Rian Johnson continues to tap into his love of mysteries, but this time with a "case of the week" style mystery series. But unlike Knives Out and Glass Onion, which take inspiration from the Agatha Christie whodunit-style murder mystery, Poker Face is taking inspiration from the famous detective series Columbo with a "how catch 'em" mystery at the center of each episode. Poker Face follows Charlie Cale (Natasha Lyonne) as she hits the road and is pulled into a new mystery with unique characters at each stop she makes. Unable to walk away when she knows people are lying, thanks to her uncanny ability as a human lie detector, she is inevitably drawn into each mystery and works to put the pieces together to solve the case.
Johnson is also bringing in seasoned television writers and producers, Nora and Lilla Zuckerman. The Zuckermans have had an impressive career in television, working on Fox's sci-fi procedural Fringe, Syfy's supernatural "case of the week" series Haven, Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., and the Fox crime drama Prodigal Son. The Zuckerman serve as executive producers on Poker Face, bringing their vast knowledge and experience in television and a love of the "case of the week" style of storytelling.
Screen Rant spoke with the Zuckermans about working with Natasha Lyonne and Rian Johnson on the new series Poker Face. They revealed how the writers are able to connect with the victims quickly each week and what they believe is Charlie's true superpower. The Zuckermans shared what drew them to the series and what excites them about "case of the week" style television.
Nora & Lilla Zuckerman On Poker Face
Screen Rant: This show is incredible! It keeps me on the edge of my seat trying to solve the mysteries with Charlie every step of the way. You guys have worked on a ton of incredible shows like Fringe, Haven, Suits, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., and Prodigal Son. What attracted you guys to Poker Face, and how did you get involved?
Lilla Zuckerman: Well, I have to tell you, when we read this pilot script, I had to take a minute. I was emotionally invested in a way that I haven't felt about a show in a very long time. I absolutely fell in love with the character of Charlie Cale, but also Rian is just a master storyteller, and he's like the king of mystery, and I have a great, great love for old school case of the week, murder mysteries, and I was like, "Oh, my God, he's doing it.
He's bringing it back. Please let me ride shotgun. I need to be a part of this ride," and when we met Rian, it was kind of like I described, as the first date that was just the best date ever; we had the same vision, we shared the same passions, and we just kind of knew, "Okay, this is partnership. We're going to do this thing."
Nora Zuckerman: It absolutely was the one job we really wanted. We're up for other stuff, and we're like, "No, we're not interested. We'll just hang out for a little while," and then this came along, and we're like, "Yes, this is it." The thing that Rian has an ability to do is, at least in my mind, write the thing that you wish you had written. We're like, "Oh, man." I remember even seeing Brick in theaters, and going like, "Man, I wish I wrote that movie." You don't feel that all the time, so working with him was, obviously, a huge plus, but we just love the story.
I hope I'm not dating myself here, because this feels like a successor to Columbo. How do you guys think the audiences will connect with this style of mystery? Because I love the way the show unfolds.
Lilla Zuckerman: Well, I think that was a fun challenge, is that this is not a whodunit. This is a how catch 'em, and so the first act of Poker Face, you are watching a murder unfold, you know who the murderer is, but then you also get the joy of coming in through Charlie Cale's eyes, and seeing her figure it out, and that was the fun part as writers.
We were like, "How are we going to hook people in when they already know who the villain is?" And then the joy of the show is watching her mind work, her un-puzzle these really intricate crimes, and then also how she's going to get justice, because she's not a cop, right? She can't take them down to the station, and so how's she going to get her poetic justice at the end of every episode is a really fun challenge, too.
This show also does such an incredible job of making you care about the victims in such a short amount of time. Can you talk about the creativity of the writing process for this show?
Nora Zuckerman: It's really tough because other shows you can rely on, "Oh, we know what that character went through last week, and now they're dealing with the fallout of that, and stuff," and instead, it's really only Charlie, so you really have to hook in to these new characters right away, and so yeah, making your heartbreak when that victim dies is something that we really focused on.
And also, sometimes maybe even rooting for the bad guy a little bit, because they have thought it through so hard. They really are trying to get away with it, and so there's sometimes when Charlie and the villain are circling each other that you're kind of not sure quite who you're rooting for, but you're enjoying the ride anyway. It's complicated, and it was hard to come up with, so if somebody in the room had the greatest the solution, you felt high. You were like, "Oh, my God, yes, yes, yes. That's it."
Like the Retirement Community Center. That episode was so intense, and it was the biggest physical challenge for Charlie. Natasha is brilliant. Can you talk about collaborating with her and Rian on the show?
Lilla Zuckerman: Well, what's lovely about Natasha's character is that Rian created the role of Charlie Cale specifically for her, and so a lot of it is just Natasha's natural exuberance, her energy, but what I like about Charlie Cale, too, is unlike some of the other roles that she's played, Charlie Cale is a people person. She's smiley, she's laid back, she's fun to hang out with.
She connects with people, and I think that everybody talks about how she can tell people are lying, but I think her superpower is that she loves people, and so you also will fall in love with these characters because you're approaching them through Charlie's eyes, and so when we were on set, when we were in the writer's room, that was always kind of our way in to all of these stories, how Charlie is connecting, and that, I think, is something that's really special about her.
Nora Zuckerman: And she's not a cynic. She knows people are lying to her every day, even about tiny, weird things, and probably for any of us, it would make us hate humanity, and she loves it, and I think that it's very aspirational. I think we all wish we had that in us.
About Poker Face
Poker Face follows Charlie Cale (Natasha Lyonne), who has an uncanny ability to know if someone is lying to her, when she hits the road in her trusty Plymouth Barracuda. Every stop pulls her into a new mystery with a unique cast of characters that she can't help but solve. Ryan Johnson's new series is a "how catch 'em" style of mystery inspired by the television classic Columbo.
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Poker Face premieres January 26 on Peacock.