Rian Johnson has a crazy idea for continuing Poker Face, but could this save or ruin the show? It's seems a little too out-there.
It’s become an old habit for streaming service viewers to watch a wonderful and fun series end far too soon. Even critical acclaim can’t save shows from low viewership, and sometimes shows with high viewing numbers still get the axe thanks to economics or other issues.
Such a fate is Poker Face. Despite critical acclaim, good viewing numbers, and even awards love (star Natasha Lyonne was nominated for an Emmy while Judith Light won one for a guest star turn), the series was ended by Peacock after two seasons.
The reasons appear to be the show’s high production costs, thanks to its bevy of major guest stars, along with filming on location. It’s a shame, as the series was delightful with Lyonne as Charlie Cale, a “human lie detector” who somehow gets involved in murder cases in various cities.
The show was a winner, with each episode showing the audience who the killer was, then a battle of wits with Charlie figuring it out. The second season ended on a cliffhanger with Charlie back on the run, making its end sadder.
However, creator Rian Johnson wants to save the show with an audacious plan: Have it picked up for another two seasons with Lyonne stepping back and Peter Dinklage taking over the role of Charlie! Is this mad plan a way to revive the show or doom it for good?
Why this Poker Face change is a major risk
This mad idea by Johnson is actually an old one. When he was crafting a sequel to his hit mystery-comedy Knives Out, Johnson originally planned for Daniel Craig to play a different detective than Benoit Blanc. He ended up going back to Blanc for Glass Onion.
It’s not that Dinklage would be a bad pick for the role of a detective. The Emmy-winner is known for expertly balancing great comedy with dramatic turns and could easily handle the part of a living lie detector. If he’d begun the show as Charlie, the series would have still worked. Indeed, Dinklage has more star power than Lyonne, so he could get more eyes on the show.
But the radical character change is something else. It’s one thing to cast another actress as Charlie, as Lyonne put such a signature stamp on the role. She channeled her quirky behavior and great voice for the character to make it work, so any other actress taking on the part would have suffered. Granted, many TV shows have done recasts for the leads (see Liam Hemsworth taking over for Henry Cavill in The Witcher), yet to many fans, Charlie worked because of Lyonne.
Doctor Who is the closest comparison
To completely transform the character by swapping Charlie’s gender is something else altogether. The closest comparison would be Doctor Who, as the long-running British sci-fi show has the title character “regenerating” into a new body every few years. However, that show gets away with it being science fiction, while Poker Face at least attempts to be more grounded.
This would not be the same Charlie at all, as Dinklage’s diminutive size alone changes the dynamics of Charlie on the run and taking on these odd jobs. Would the entire format change to erase the previous two seasons and be a “blank slate?” Would Charlie suddenly be a private eye or a rich person turned amateur sleuth to fit Dinklage’s persona? It would literally be a completely different series, a massive departure from before.
Even crazier is Johnson saying he’d like to swap out Charlie’s actor every two seasons. There’s really no precedent for that, and while Johnson likely thinks it’s a way to revitalize the show, it’ll quickly become too gimmicky. It’s much harder for viewers to stay invested in a show that would swap its lead and alter its entire direction every couple of years unless they make this an anthology.
The only way this recast works is that Dinklage isn’t playing Charlie but a new character with the same “lie detector” ability who takes on these cases. It’d be weird, but anthology shows do well, like Fargo, and fans would accept that more than the series suddenly acting like Charlie has always been a man.
Maybe, just maybe, this crazy gamble pays off as the show gets picked up, Dinklage makes it work and the series retains the fun of the “howdunnit” format. Yet while it’s commendable for Johnson to try something so daring to save the show, it may be far too great a reach that could only ruin this fun series, while Poker Face fans prefer to remember it for the gem of a show it was.
Poker Face is available to stream on Peacock.
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