‘Poker Face’: Rian Johnson Proves He’s the King of Whodunits With First Look at New 2023 Peacock Series

Rian Johnson is back with another mystery, and no, we aren’t talking about Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery. Peacock has released a first look at Johnson’s forthcoming 10-episode series, Poker Face, once again proving that he is the king of whodunits.

The new series follows Charlie, played by Natasha Lyonne, as she travels in her super-hip Plymouth Barracuda, meeting strange people – played by a star-studded cast – and new crimes to solve at every stop. The mystery drama will hit the streamer January 26, 2023 and will see guest appearances from Adrien Brody, Benjamin Bratt, Charles Melton, Jameela Jamil, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Judith Light, Stephanie Hsu, and more.

In a shared statement from Johnson and Lyonne, they said that the show came to fruition after a “good dinner conversation”. Promising that the series will deliver in everything that makes the genre great, they expressed, “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.”

The two continued, “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.”

Johnson shared the teaser on Twitter and wrote that he is “very excited” for the series to come out and called it an “old school case-of-the-week mystery series.” And fans immediately ate it up because not only has Johnson demonstrated his skill in the genre with the release of Knives Out and its highly-anticipated sequel, but the teaser promises witty one-liners and call-backs to whodunit greats while introducing Lyonne’s “do-no-harm” character (and her signature raspy voice.)

This won’t be Johnson’s last venture into the genre as he recently told Variety that he has no interest in wrapping up the Knives Out franchise. “If each one of these can really be what Agatha Christie did, if it can be not just in a totally new location and a new cast, but also trying something exciting, I’ll keep doing it as long as Daniel [Craig] and I are having a good time. I’ll keep making these as long as they let me,” the director said, making it sound like Poker Face was cut off the same cloth as the popular movie series.

For the new drama, Johnson will serve as the creator, writer, director, and executive producer. Lyonne will also executive produce, alongside Ram Bergman, Nora Zuckerman, Lila Zuckerman, Nena Rodrigue, and Iain B. Macdonald.

Poker Face will release four episodes January 26, 2023 on Peacock with new episodes streaming Thursdays.