I’m not lying when I say that Rian Johnson’s mystery series Poker Face was one of the best new shows of 2023. The series stars Natasha Lyonne (Orange Is the New Black, Russian Doll) as Charlie Cale, a woman with an innate ability to detect lies.
This skill comes in handy as she crisscrosses the country, stumbling into various whodunnits along the way. Although in the case of Poker Face, it’s more of a whydunnit. Each episode opens with a murder, then introduces Charlie who susses out the crime based on who is lying.
In season one, Charlie encountered shady race car drivers, hippy seniors, and a one-hit wonder metal band while running from casino boss Sterling Frost Sr. (Ron Perlman) and his head of security Cliff (Benjamin Bratt). Along the way, she stumbles into various cases of the week, exploring subcultures and criminals in her travels.
Poker Face debuted to critical acclaim, and it was no surprise when the series was quickly renewed for a second season. It’s been over a year since the series was renewed, but in that time the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes brought production to a standstill.
When can we expect Poker Face season 2?
Unfortunately for us, we may be waiting awhile for the further adventures of Charlie Cale. In an interview with Deadline in June, Johnson said of the release date, “That’s something that’s really up in the air. I mean, a lot of it has to do with what happens in terms of the writers’ strike, and there’s so much that’s unknown at the moment. Also, right now my priority is getting the next Benoit Blanc movie going.”
Lyonne spoke with Variety at the at the Critics Choice Awards, where she joked that she was recruiting future guest stars, saying “It’s all cooking and it’s fucking hot. It’s gonna be a hot season, … There’s some big ideas and I’ve been going around all of this award circuit with contracts and so I’ve been getting people to sign up for episodes. It’s been really helpful … Billie Eilish. I’ll try to get her to sign one later tonight. You know, I hear Jodie Foster is gonna be here tonight. So I’ll try to get a signature, some sort of a blood oath or you know, spitting in a palm and a handshake still holds in this town.”
In the meantime, you can catch Lyonne voicing Nurse Tup in Amazon’s The Second Best Hospital in The Galaxy, which she also produced. Lyonne also directed the Netflix special Jacqueline Novak: Get On Your Knees.
(featured image: Evans Vestal Ward/Peacock)
