Rian Johnson has a certifiable iconic detective with Benoit Blanc, but he isn’t settling for just one. The director / writer / creator is launching another mystery series, but this time it’s on TV. Poker Face, which will stream exclusively on Peacock and was created by Rian Johnson, has a new trailer showing off the show’s mystery-a-week premise as Natasha Lyonne stars as Charlie, a woman who can tell if people are lying or not.
Unlike the majority of streaming series, Poker Face is actually episodic, though there is a through line running in the background. Charlie has to hit the road after getting in trouble with some not-so-good people and begins a cross-country journey. Like all great mystery-solvers, murder and intrigue begin following her wherever she goes, and she has to use her unique gift to unravel each week’s case. It is a refreshingly old-school take on the genre with a cast and creator who should be able to inject just enough difference to make it stand out.
As the Poker Face Peacock trailer shows, each week will see Charlie in a new location with a new cast of characters around her, delivering the kind of episodic mystery-solving that’s been sorely missing from streaming platforms as they all make their series into 8-hour movies. Honestly, it feels like Psych meets a road trip movie and should be fantastic.
In case you need famous people to get you to turn into a TV show, plenty are showing up. Given each week is basically a new cast outside of Leone, the series has a ton of stars coming in, including Adrien Brody, Angel Desai, Audrey Corsa, Benjamin Bratt, Brandon Michael Hall, Charles Melton, Chelsea Frei, Cherry Jones, Chloë Sevigny, Clea DuVall, Colton Ryan, Danielle MacDonald, Dascha Polanco, Ellen Barkin, Hong Chau, Jasmine Aiyana Garvin, Jameela Jamil, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Judith Light, Leslie Silva, Lil Rel Howery, Luis Guzmán, Megan Suri, Niall Cunningham, Nicholas Cirillo, Nick Nolte, Reed Birney, Rhea Perlman, Ron Perlman, Rowan Blanchard, S. Epatha Merkerson, Shane Paul McGhie, Simon Helberg, Stephanie Hsu, Tim Blake Nelson, and Tim Meadows. The first season will feature 10 episodes, each running for 60 minutes.
Poker Face premieres on Peacock on January 26.
