The future of “Poker Face” is looking like a mystery that might even puzzle Charlie Cale at first glance.
IndieWire has confirmed that Peacock has opted not to renew the Rian Johnson-created mystery series after two seasons, but the show is seeking a new home. In an unexpected twist, however, Lyonne will not be returning as traveling detective/human lie detector Charlie Cale.
The role of “Charlie” (unclear if it’s specifically “Charlie Cale”) will instead be played by Peter Dinklage. No lie. A source close to the project told IndieWire that supposedly this was by design for Johnson’s T-Street Productions and MRC, as the show now plans on recasting the “Charlie” character every two seasons.
Lyonne will remain on board as an executive producer if the show lands at another network or streaming service.
“Poker Face” premiered on Peacock in 2023, with Johnson directing the first two episodes before handing things off to showrunners Nora and Lilla Zuckerman (Johnson also directed Episode 9). Season 2, which aired in spring 2025, saw the Zuckermans replaced by “Americana” director Tony Tost as showrunner, with Johnson directing the season premiere. Season 2 ended with a dramatic finale that appeared to be setting up a major new confrontation for Cale, essentially a Moriarty to Cale’s Sherlock Holmes, but it is unclear whether that story will be directly continued with Dinklage.
The show saw Johnson applying the same modern touch to “Columbo”-style case-of-the-week detective stories that his “Knives Out” franchise brought to whodunnit movies. The episodic format made it easy to bring in major guest stars, with the likes of Adrien Brody, Cynthia Erivo, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ron Perlman, Giancarlo Esposito, John Mulaney, and Kumail Nanjiani making appearances during the first two seasons.
“Poker Face” was one of Peacock’s top performing shows, at least according to Nielsen ratings. It debuted among the Top 5 on Nielsen’s Top Original streaming series when it debuted back in 2023, launching with 547 million viewing minutes logged, and that number grew from there in Week 2. Season 2 had the show’s premiere return to the Top 5, but with just 497M viewing minutes.
Regardless of what the future of “Poker Face” holds, Johnson and Lyonne currently have full slates of projects to juggle. Johnson’s “Knives Out” series continues to hum along smoothly, with the third film “Wake Up Dead Man” earning rave reviews following its Toronto premiere ahead of its upcoming holiday release. The “Looper” director has also teased plans to direct an original sci-fi film as his next project. Lyonne is making her directorial debut on the film “Uncanny Valley,” which is being produced by her new AI studio Asteria.
News of the show’s cancellation and recasting plans was first reported by Deadline.
Additional reporting by Brian Welk