Peacock’s ‘Poker Face’ is a nod to classic TV mysteries, says creator Rian Johnson

Knives Out creator Rian Johnson is keeping the mystery alive, with his new show Poker Face out Thursday on Peacock. 

The series stars Natasha Lyonne as a woman with a super-tuned b.s. detector, and Johnson tells ABC Audio that though both Poker Face and Knives Out involve solving mysteries, this show is way different than the movies.

“To me it is such a different genre. It’s not a whodunit, it’s a how-catch-em,” he explains. “We show you the killer in the first act, and then it’s tracking them down.”

Ultimately, what Johnson was going for was a classic TV vibe “like the type of TV I grew up watching and loving.”

“And so it was kind of a bit of a throwback to Columbo, Rockford Files, you know, Magnum P.I., that kind of hour-long show,” he says. 

Lyonne’s casting played a role in helping Johnson achieve that vibe, which he compares to Peter Falk‘s role in Columbo. 

“I don’t really watch Colombo for the mysteries. I watch it to hang out with Peter Falk every week,” says Johnson. “And so the fact that you want to hang out with Natasha and see her win week to week, I mean, that’s kind of what it’s all about.”

The show is also all about the interesting ways that Lyonne’s character, Charlie Cale, uses her unique talent, which Johnson admits wasn’t an easy task.  

“She can detect lies, and figuring out interesting ways of exploring that and figuring out ways of having a detective show where the detective can detect lies and the mystery isn’t over in five minutes, that was an interesting challenge of the whole thing,” he shares.

Poker Face also guest stars Adrien Brody, Chloë Sevigny, Jameela Jamil, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and more. 

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