Spotlight on Peacock's Hit Crime Series "Poker Face"
When Peacock launched "Poker Face" a year and a half ago, the show was an instant hit, debuting at No. 3 in the Nielsen Streaming Originals Chart. The case-of-the-week murder mystery series created by Rian Johnson ("Knives Out") and starring Natasha Lyonne ("Russian Doll") was Peacock's highest-ranked original series ever at that time.
The first season was not only popular with viewers, but it was also a hit with critics, nabbing four Emmy nominations (one win), a Golden Globe nod for Lyonne, and two nominations (one win) at the Writers Guild of America (WGA) Awards.
The series, which debuted in January 2023, centers around human lie detector Charlie Cale (Lyonne) as she drives across the country solving crimes while hiding from casino bosses and other ne'er-do-wells. Each episode explores a new mystery, and guest stars abounded each week throughout the first season, including Ellen Barkin, Adrien Brody, Hong Chau, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Luis Guzman, Simon Helberg, Lil Rel Howery … as well as Stephanie Hsu, Jameela Jamil, Cherry Jones, Tim Meadows, Tim Blake Nelson … and don't forget Nick Nolte, Ron Perlman, John Ratzenberger, Tim Russ, Chloe Sevigny, and Benjamin Bratt in a recurring role. Oh, and Judith Light, who won an Emmy for her guest appearance.
Naturally Peacock picked the show up for a second season, and we at Broadway Stages are so glad, because Charlie will soon find herself in New York, which gave us the opportunity to provide our facilities to the production.
Season two will bring all new mysteries for Charlie to solve, as well as new guest stars including Giancarlo Esposito, Gaby Hoffmann, Katie Holmes, and Kumail Nanjiani. New showrunner Tony Tost ("Damnation") will take over from Nora and Lilla Zuckerman. The sisters, who won a WGA Award for the episode "Escape From Shit Mountain" will remain executive producers alongside series creator Johnson.
When we last saw Charlie, she was on the run again after casino head Cliff LeGrand (Bratt) and rival casino owner Beatrix Hasp (voiced by Rhea Perlman) attempted to frame her for murder in Atlantic City. Following Cliff's arrest by the FBI, Charlie was given a dire choice: work with Beatrix and her crime syndicate or keep running.
We don't know just yet when season two will drop on Peacock, but we'll let you know as soon as we find out!