The Fate of Rian Johnson’s ‘Knives Out’ Replacement Has Been Decided — But There’s a Catch

After two seasons of following human lie detector Charlie Cale (Natasha Lyonne) across the country, Peacock has cancelled Rian Johnson‘s mystery series Poker Face. Johnson is now shopping the series around to other outlets…but if it does find a new home, expect a very different show. That’s because Johnson intends the show to return with an all-new Charlie Cale…in the form of Peter Dinklage.

According to reports, Johnson claims the actor switch was in the works since the second-season finale, which may now turn out to be the series finale. It is unclear exactly how the switch will be made on the series if it continues — while Charlie’s lie-detecting ability does have a whiff of the supernatural, it’s not clear if the series is prepared for a Doctor Who-style regeneration. Says Johnson, “We’ve been germinating this next move together since writing the season two 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.” Despite departing the series on-screen, Lyonne will stay on as an executive producer on the series alongside Johnson.

What is ‘Poker Face’ About?

As the series opens, Cale (Lyonne) is a cocktail waitress with the uncanny ability to flawlessly detect a lie. When her friend is murdered, her boss at the casino attempts to cover it up, but Charlie soon sniffs him out, leading to his death and a vow of vengeance from his crime-boss father. Charlie hits the road in her Plymouth Barracuda, finding a new mystery to solve wherever she stops. The series, like Columbo, was less a whodunit and more a “howcatchem”: the murder, and its perpetrator, is always depicted at the start of the episode, and then follows Charlie as she attempts to solve it. The second season of the series ended on an ambiguous note; having discovered that her new friend Alex (Patti Harrison) is actually the notorious assassin known only as the Iguana, Charlie wrecked her Barracuda and was last seen being picked up by a trucker, while Alex’s fate was left up in the air.

Fans of Rian Johnson’s mysteries shouldn’t despair, whatever fate is in store for Poker Face. Wake Up Dead Man, the latest installment of the Benoit Blanc series Johnson began in Knives Out, will be released on Netflix on November 26. Daniel Craig returns as Blanc, and will be accompanied by suspects/victims/red herrings Josh Brolin, Josh O’Connor, Glenn Close, Mila Kunis, and Jeremy Renner.

Poker Face has been cancelled at Peacock after two seasons, but a search for a new home is in progress. Stay tuned to Collider for future updates.