Poker Face Has Been Canceled, But Creator Rian Johnson Hopes To Continue In A Strange Way

All Rian Johnson wants to do is craft the most intricate murder-mystery stories around and chew bubblegum ... and he's all out of bubblegum. Although best known to your mouth-breathing uncle as the guy who "ruined 'Star Wars'" with "The Last Jedi," the acclaimed writer/director has been busy building out his "Knives Out" trilogy on the big screen with the upcoming "Wake Up Dead Man" (well, whenever Netflix deigns to allow that, at least) and, most recently, his "Poker Face" empire on streaming with Peacock. Well, his throwback whodunnit series has suddenly hit a bit of a snag, according to a new report, but fear not! Johnson has possibly one of the most outlandish ideas to keep the murder-y good times going.

Here's some seriously zany news to liven up your week. Despite debuting its second season to all sorts of critical acclaim (including yours truly, as you can see from my review), Peacock has decided to abruptly cancel "Poker Face" for good. That's the word from Deadline, which reports that the streamer has opted not to renew the series — despite racking up enough views to become the most-watched show on the entire platform. What's worse, this apparently spells the end of the line for star Natasha Lyonne, who has played the main truth-sniffing detective Charlie Cale to rave reviews with her wry humor and fun-loving personality. But, not to be deterred, both Johnson and longtime producing partner Ram Bergman have concocted a scheme to shop "Poker Face" around for another two-season deal. The twist? Peter Dinklage is on board to take over for Lyonne. Not as a brand-new protagonist, mind you, but as a recast Charlie Cale.

Confused? We are, too. Let's try to make sense of this together.

Honestly, this sounds like it could be the plot of one of the zanier episodes from "Poker Face" or a fictional show-within-the-movie unfolding in the background of "Knives Out." So, to lay it all out as straightforwardly as possible: Peacock is parting ways with the popular series due to, as Deadline describes it, high costs and a slight downturn in viewing numbers compared to season 1. Naturally, Rian Johnson isn't giving up without attempting to get any other platform to bite, as he's now wooing other broadcasters to pick up the series for two more seasons. But, despite the snag that Natasha Lyonne will no longer be attached as the star (she's remaining involved as an executive producer), Johnson's forging ahead anyway with Peter Dinklage on board to take over what seems to be the exact same role of Charlie Cale.

Both Johnson and Lyonne had this to say in a joint statement:

"We've been germinating this next move together since writing the season 2 finale. We love our 'Poker Face,' and this is the perfect way to keep it rolling. Give us a beat, and we may just see Charlie Cale again down that open highway."

Wild, huh? In another out-of-left-field turn, the Deadline report offers the following comment: "Johnson's hope is for the franchise to evolve with a new actor to play the lead character every two years." So, should "Poker Face" continue, we can expect somewhat of a revolving door as far as our main lead is concerned. But how, exactly, would Dinklage (or any other future lead after him) just pop in to play the human lie detector Charlie Cale? We have some guesses about that, too.

You have questions and we have, uh, our best guess as to what the heck is going on here. If you remember, "Poker Face" season 2 came to a dramatic close when Charlie Cale managed to barely evade death at the hands of newly-revealed villain Alex (Patti Harrison), the unassuming sidekick who turned out to be a deadly assassin hell-bent on taking down Charlie at all costs. The somewhat "Thelma & Louise"-like ending to the season 2 finale saw Alex attempt to drive the both of them off a cliff, only for Charlie to escape by the skin of her teeth and send Alex careening over the edge (though, of course, nobody recovered a body). Now on the run from the FBI, Charlie walks away to parts unknown.

So, how does Peter Dinklage's recasting fit into things? The Deadline report strongly implies that this isn't a case where some new character merely assumes Charlie's identity or some sort of "Face/Off" type of deal where Natasha Lyonne's version somehow lives on as Dinklage (as weirdly cool as that might be). Knowing Rian Johnson's storytelling tendencies and sense of humor, there's a very real chance that he simply picks up the story in James Bond or "Doctor Who"-like fashion with Dinklage as Charlie Cale, lie-detecting superpowers and all, without ever once drawing attention to it. Weird as that may be, shows from "Bewitched" to "The Crown" to, yes, the ratings-challenged "The Witcher" have all done similar things before. The only drawback is, well, a story about a woman undergoing all the mishaps and occasional trauma that she's been through suddenly being taken over by a man (as talented as Dinklage is) can't help but feel ... iffy.

Stay tuned!