Mike Fleming Jr: Peacock Folds On ‘Poker Face’ Season 3; Rian Johnson Wants 2-Season Deal With Peter Dinklage As Lie Detector Sleuth Charlie Cale
EXCLUSIVE: Peacock has decided not to renew Poker Face for a third season. Natasha Lyonne exits as star, but series creator Rian Johnson, his T-Street partner Ram Bergman, MRC and Lyonne thinks there are many mysteries ahead for the show’s signature character to solve. Last night, they began an effort to shop the show to other broadcasters for a two-season commitment. The shocker: Peter Dinklage will take over the role of Charlie, the sleuth whose superpower is an innate ability to detect liars.
Deadline confirmed the plan and got this statement from Johnson and Lyonne, latter of whom stays aboard as Executive Producer: “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. Give us a beat and we may just see Charlie Cale again down that open highway.”
It hasn’t been made clear if Tony Tost will continue as showrunner, or whether bringing in new for the attempted overhaul. But this is Johnson’s baby, and he’ll do as much writing and directing as he needs to in order to keep it going. Johnson has been obsessed with truth-telling since Ana de Armas played the lead opposite Daniel Craig in Knives Out, a woman who projectile vomited every time she tried to lie. Poker Face did not have those great expectorations, but was designed as a Columbo-like murder mystery of the week, Lyonne as a former casino employer whose value for being able to call bullshit got overshadowed by witnessing a crime and needing to go on the lam from a casino boss. Traveling the country in her 1969 Plymouth Barracuda, Charlie puts her superpower to use solving homicides everywhere she stops, while she stays on the run.
Poker Face finished Season Two as one of Peacock’s most-watched series, but the show is expensive and the ratings were down a bit from a first season filled with critical raves and Emmy nominations. Then again, costs are comparable to other shows with similar casts and quality. As for Lyonne, she’s still engaged as EP under her Animal banner, and has working up a story with Force & Majeure, Euphoria, Roommates, Klara and the Sun and Uncanny Valley on her dance card.
Long term, Johnson’s hope is for the franchise to evolve with a new actor to play the lead character every two years. First up is Dinklage, the Game of Thrones star most recently seen in the films Wicked and Roofman.. Series have replaced leads in the same character since Bewitched swapped Darin Stevens mid-run, and more recent examples include The Crown and Dr. Who.
Much as Johnson’s Knives Out film series has returned with a new cast to surround Daniel Craig – the third film Wake Up Dead Man bows next month on Netflix. Dinklage is firmed as the new star as CAA will look to secure a new distribution partner for the franchise to continue. Stay tuned.
Johnson & T-Street are repped by CAA, as is Dinklage and Lyonne.
Patti Harrison, left, and Natasha Lyonne in ‘Poker Face’
Ralph Bavaro/Peacock
