Poker Face has been canceled by Peacock. After two seasons, the Columbo-inspired mystery series created by Rian Johnson has possibly met its end, despite strong reviews from critics. But that’s not the part that’s going to make you say, “Bullshit.”
Rather, it’s the interesting idea that Johnson has for the future of the series. According to Deadline, Johnson isn’t deterred and plans to shop the series to other networks. “We’ve been germinating this next move together since writing the season two finale. We love our Poker Face and this is the perfect way to keep it rolling,” he said.” Give us a beat and we may just see Charlie Cale again down that open highway.” But Johnson said that if we do see Charlie again, she won’t be played by Natasha Lyonne. Instead, Johnson plans to recast the human lie detector with Peter Dinklage.
Poker Face premiered on Peacock in 2023, introducing us to Charlie Cale, a rumpled woman with the ability to recognize any lie. Whenever someone lies to Cale, she cannot help but respond by saying, “Bullshit.” The ability gets her a good job working for the mob at one of their casinos, but when the gangster’s son (Adrien Brody) goes too far, Charlie has to tell the truth, which sends her on the run from the mob throughout the first season and most of the second.
Despite that overarching narrative, most episodes of Poker Face followed their inspiration Columbo and told stand-alone “Howshecatchem” stories. Each episode opened by introducing totally new characters, played by guest stars ranging from Chloë Sevigny and Cynthia Erivo to Tim Russ and Justin Theroux, and shows how one of them kills the other. Then, the episode shows how Charlie came to find herself among those characters, eventually recognizing a lie and then confronting the murderer.
