Are you looking for a slick murder-mystery TV show to fill the Knives Out/Glass Onion-shaped hole in your life? Poker Face might be the series for you.
Launching exclusively on Peacock on January 26, Poker Face is a 10-part whodunnit series that marks Star Wars and Glass Onion director Rian Johnson’s first foray into the world of television. Given Johnson’s penchant for detective-style projects, you already know Poker Face is going to be one of 2023’s first real big hits, too.
Not convinced? Well, check out Poker Face’s first trailer below. We’ll wait for you to watch it and then end up agreeing with us:
Okay, so what’s Poker Face actually about? In a press release, the case-of-the-week TV show’s plot synopsis reads as follows: “Poker Face is a 10-episode mystery-of-the-week series following Natasha Lyonne’s Charlie, who has an extraordinary ability to determine when someone is lying. She hits the road with her Plymouth Barracuda and with every stop encounters a new cast of characters and strange crimes she can’t help but solve.”
A Knives Out-like TV series that stars Russian Doll’s Lyonne as a quick-witted, female version of Benoit Blanc? Yep, we’ll certainly be tuning in – and you should on that basis, too.
Johnson, who created, directed, and executively produced the series, also provided a bit more context about how Poker Face came to be. In short: a dinner conversation with Lyonne, in which the pair shared their affections for the whodunnit genre, led to the show’s creation.
“Never underestimate the power of a good dinner conversation between friends,” the duo wrote. “What started as a discussion over steak frites about detective shows and what made them such a reliable pleasure – the exploration of little worlds within each new setting, the guest stars playing killers and victims, and most importantly, a scrappy protagonist you were always ready to kick back with and see win – ultimately resulted in the creation of Charlie, the driving force behind Poker Face.
“We invite you to follow Charlie on a cross-country road trip as she meets a rogue’s gallery of characters and avenges a new injustice each episode, armed with little more than her uncanny ability to detect lies and a genuine appreciation for her fellow humans (and the occasional dog). Now please leave the overthinking to Rian, who has masterfully crafted ten self-contained puzzles for Charlie to solve. Just jump in the back of her ‘69 Plymouth Barracuda and enjoy the ride.”
Johnson was joined in the writers’ room by Nora and Lilla Zuckerman (Agents of SHIELD, Prodigal Son), with the pair also acting as showrunners on the Peacock original. Johnson, Lyonne, and the Zuckerman sisters are joined by Nene Rodrigue, Ram Bergman, and Iain B. Macdonal on the executive producing team.
As for Poker Face’s stacked guest star list, it includes – but isn’t limited to – Adrian Brody, Ron Perlman, Benjamin Bratt, Cherry Jones, Chloë Sevigny, Jameela Jamil, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Lil Rel Howery, Nick Nolte, Simon Helberg, Stephanise Tsu, and Tim Blake Nelson. Suffice to say, if you’re a fan of any of the above, you’ll want to stream Poker Face when it lands on Peacock.
Speaking of, here’s that all-important release date: January 26. Poker Face will launch with a four (!) episode premiere, before reverting to a weekly release schedule every Thursday until its season finale. In a world where Peacock isn’t considered to be one of the best streaming services, a show like Poker Face could finally put it on the map.
For more Peacock-based content, check out our Peacock review and read up on everything worth knowing about The Continental, the first of many John Wick spin-offs.
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