Peacock's 2-Part Crime Series Is One Of Its Best

Although Poker Face only lasted two seasons, creator Rian Johnson’s short-lived cult classic remains one of Peacock’s best original TV shows. The murder mystery has been a TV staple for decades, and it is a tricky genre to reinvent precisely because of the whodunit’s enduring popularity and subsequent ubiquity.

There have been horror whodunits like Scream, Scream Queens, and Slasher, teen whodunits like Riverdale and Pretty Little Liars, and cozy murder mystery shows like Murder She Wrote and Diagnosis Murder, among many others. There are dark murder mystery masterpieces like Twin Peaks and playful, mild-mannered spins on the genre like Miss Fisher’s Mysteries.

This makes it all the more impressive that Knives Out franchise creator Rian Johnson managed to reinvent the format in 2023 with the two-season mystery show Poker Face. Starring Natasha Lyonne as Charlie Cale, a heroine with an uncanny ability to tell when people are lying, Poker Face was a murder-of-the-week whodunit with a welcome twist.

Poker Face Is A Murder Mystery Created By Rian Johnson

Image via Peacock

While Charlie’s ability to spot a liar from a mile off was intriguing in its own right, Poker Face further subverted the expectations of viewers by borrowing from the iconic cozy crime show Columbo. Like that classic whodunit, every episode of Poker Face begins by revealing the murderer and how they committed their crime, then follows Charlie’s attempts to solve the case.

Although Poker Face’s many celebrity cameos elevated the show’s star power, it was this risky premise that truly made the series stand out. Right now, murder mystery shows are enjoying something of a renaissance, from Hulu’s Only Murders in the Building to Netflix’s The Residence, to HBO’s The White Lotus, to Apple TV’s The After Party.

As such, Poker Face needed to be pretty impressive to stand out amid a flood of other shows that not only brought back the murder mystery format, but specifically did so with a comedic, satirical spin. Ironically, a lot of these shows were greenlit thanks to the success of the Knives Out movies.

Luckily, while their success might have made it harder for Poker Face to stand out, Johnson’s show was more than up to the challenge. Charlie made for a compelling protagonist, and the A-list cast of season 1 ensured that every episode was an exciting, star-studded affair. Johnson’s skill at crafting an unpredictable murder mystery never failed him throughout Poker Face’s two seasons.

How Poker Face Is Different From Other Whodunits

With so many other shows also exploring subversive, darkly funny spins on the murder mystery format, Poker Face needed to bring back Columbo’s iconic inverted whodunit format to stand out in a crowded marketplace. However, that wasn’t the show’s only ingenious change to the usual murder mystery formula.

Murder mystery shows peaked in popularity long before mystery box shows became popular, with the former genre dominating the airwaves during the ‘80s while the latter rose to prominence in the ‘00s and 2010s. Luckily, Johnson’s extensive experience with tricky, complex plotting meant Poker Face could bring on board some of the most compelling parts of the mystery box format.

The show was fun to watch as a case-of-the-week murder mystery series, and it was a satisfying show for viewers who treated each episode as a standalone story. However, Poker Face also gradually revealed more of Charlie’s character arc as the show progressed, expanding the viewer’s understanding of its heroine with this simultaneous serialized storyline.

As Poker Face went on, critics praised the show for managing to leverage its likable heroine and her ongoing story against the predictable repetition of the traditional murder mystery format. The show could easily have felt like little more than a nostalgic rehash of Columbo, but Poker Face’s Charlie ensured its story was compelling in its own right.

Why Poker Face Was Canceled After Two Seasons

Poker Face's Natasha Lyonne as Charlie Cale — Poker Face’s Natasha Lyonne as Charlie Cale

Sadly, all good things must come to an end, and for ambitious, critically acclaimed TV shows that subvert viewer expectations, that end often comes far too soon. Poker Face was canceled by Peacock after two seasons in 2025 despite near-universal acclaim, although Johnson reassured fans that this wasn’t necessarily the end of the show’s story.

Johnson shared plans to shop the show around to other networks, although he said that Lyonne’s Charlie would be recast with Game of Thrones star Peter Dinklage. Thus, it seems fair to presume that, if the series does return, this reboot won’t pick up straight after Poker Face’s season 2 ending.

This is a shame, since Poker Face was a uniquely appealing series that proved the traditional murder mystery format can still be reinvented decades after its heyday on network TV. It is not entirely clear why the series was canceled, since the streaming service’s viewing numbers aren’t available, and its critical performance was superb.

However, whatever the thinking behind Poker Face’s cancellation, the show remains one of Peacock’s best titles ever. Although later, darker psychological thrillers like All Her Fault might earn more attention for the streaming service, mystery fans should still seek out Poker Face.