Rian Johnson Directs Natasha Lyonne

Rian Johnson is taking his mystery tales to the small screen. Russian Doll’s Natasha Lyonne plays Benoit Blanc Charlie Cale, a traveling sleuth with a preternatural ability to tell when someone’s lying in the upcoming Peacock mystery-of-the-week series, Poker Face. Armed with nothing but her flask and quick wit in the stylish trailer, Lyonne wanders the U.S. in her Plymouth Barracuda, sticking her nose into the strange local crimes. Not everything is a Sunday drive, though — someone is after Charlie Cale, and they won’t rest until she’s brought in. The plot thickens.

“Never underestimate the power of a good dinner conversation between friends,” wrote Johnson and Lyonne in a press release. “What started as a discussion over steak frites about detective shows and what made them such a reliable pleasure — the exploration of little worlds within each new setting, the guest stars playing killers and victims, and most importantly, a scrappy protagonist you were always ready to kick back with and see win — ultimately resulted in the creation of Charlie.”

With a stacked list of guest stars — Adrien Brody, Benjamin Bratt, Chloë Sevigny, Clea DuVall, Dascha Polanco, Ellen Barkin, Hong Chau, Jameela Jamil, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Judith Light, Lil Rel Howery, Rhea Perlman, Ron Perlman, S. Epatha Merkerson, and Tim Meadows — you’d be lying if you said you weren’t interested. The first four episodes premiere on January 26 on Peacock.