Rian Johnsonwill bring his imaginative worldbuilding to the small screen with a new series calledPoker Face. Peacock announced today that it has issued a straight-to-series order of 10 episodes for the hour-long mystery show from T-Street and MRC Television.Russian DollactressNatasha Lyonneis set to star.
Johnson will helm the original series in addition to writing and executive producing alongsideRam Bergmanand T-Street television presidentNena Rodrigue. Lyonne will also executive produce through her production company Animal Pictures, along with co-executive producersMaya RudolphandDanielle Renfrew Behrens.
“I’m very excited to dig into the type of fun, character-driven, case-of-the-week mystery goodness I grew up watching,” said Johnson in a statement. It’s my happy place. Having Natasha as a partner in crime is a dream, and we’ve found the perfect home at Peacock.”
“Rian Johnson’s distinct sensibility and talent for telling edge-of-your-seat mysteries is a massive gift for Peacock, and we can’t wait for audiences to delve into each case,” addedLisa Katz, President, Scripted Content, NBCUniversal Television and Streaming. “Paired with the acting genius of Natasha Lyonne, this series will be entertaining and addictive.”
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According to a source close to the project, Collider has learned the series is modeled after detective shows of the ’70s and ’80s but is doing its own thing. Both Johnson and Lyonne’s past work suits them well for this type of project. Aside fromStar Wars: The Last Jedi, Johnson is best known for directingKnives Out, the character-driven thriller/mystery film that earned an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay.
Lyonne, meanwhile, has spent the past season making a name for herself on the Netflix seriesRussian Doll, where she stars as a game coder who keeps dying and re-living an event over and over again. In addition to co-creating, starring, co-writing, and directing on the Netflix series, she also recently executive producedSarah Cooper: Everything’s Fine. Lyonne launched her production company Animal Pictures in 2018 with Renfrew Behrens.
Meanwhile, Johnson and Bergman launched T-Street Television in 2019 and are currently working on a follow-up film toKnives Outas well asNetflix’sTheThree-Body ProblemwithGame of ThronesshowrunnersDavid BenioffandD.B. Weiss.
Currently, there is no scheduled release date forPoker Face, but check back with Collider for that info as soon as we have it.
