Rian Johnson Is Playing “A Whole New Game” With ‘Poker Face’

In celebration of Poker Face, Peacock‘s new 10-episode mystery-of-the-week series starring Natasha Lyonne, I put on my finest black sweatshirt (which features a photo of Chris Evans in his famous Knives Out sweater above the words “eat shit”) and hopped on a Zoom call to meet the show’s acclaimed creator, writer, director, and executive producer Rian Johnson.

I had just devoured six superb screeners of Poker Face and was eager to pick Johnson’s brain on everything from creating his first TV show and casting such an iconic group of guest stars to his favorite on-set memory and his hopes for a potential Season 2. But as half of the dynamic duo who accidentally launched Evans’ cozy cable-knit to fame, I also knew I had to properly introduce myself. Much to my delight, Johnson was equally thrilled to see — in his words — “that beautiful man” on his screen.

Chris Evans, to be clear, does not appear in Johnson’s new show. And unlike Johnson’s popular “whodunit” films, Knives Out and Glass Onion, Poker Face is a “howcatchem” series. “It was a whole new beast for me. It was a whole new game,” the creator told Decider.

Born from his and Lyonne’s shared love of shows like Magnum P.I. and Murder, She Wrote, Poker Face takes a page out of Columbo‘s book and reveals the crime, the victims, and the killer in the first act of each episode. The fun, therefore, lies in watching Lyonne’s character Charlie Cale — a casino cocktail waitress with an uncanny lie detecting ability — use her gift to the crack cases wide open. With a new mystery, a new location, and a new cast each episode, Poker Face is an ambitious episodic series. But Johnson, Lyonne, and their talented team successfully brought the vision to screen. “I feel very, very proud of the whole series. I feel like what we set out to do we were able to do, and then we’ll see what people make of it,” Johnson said.

Read on for the creator’s full conversation with Decider about Poker Face, working with Lyonne, an exciting Glass Onion Easter egg, and more. The first four episodes of Poker Face premiere on January 26, so if you haven’t seen them yet, be mindful of light spoilers ahead.

DECIDER: Hello!

RIAN JOHNSON: Nicole, look at that sweatshirt. Look at that beautiful man! [Laughs] That’s awesome. I love it.

[Laughs] Oh yes, I’m obviously a huge fan, so this is such an honor. But since I’m blessed to be in your presence I do quickly need to let you know that I am the girl who said “sweater” in that screening of Knives Out.

Oh yeah?! Oh my god. I remember that. [Laughs] Amazing.

So I’m sorry, and also thank you!

No, thank you. Amazing.

I felt like we were destined to meet at some point.

Yes, it had to happen.

Well I’m thrilled that we get to talk about this phenomenal show of yours. Your first TV show! So it’s almost a little rude that it’s this good. I had the pleasure of chatting with your showrunners earlier today who said that despite you usually writing in a cabin alone for months you were very collaborative and a natural TV writer. I know you’ve directed two episodes of Breaking Bad so aren’t totally new to TV, but I’m curious what surprised you most about the Poker Face TV process.

Well it was a whole new beast for me. It was a whole new game. And I’ve only written alone, and been totally miserable doing it. And I’ll go back to doing it. I’ll keep writing alone. But to write with a group of people and to have that collaboration, I mean, I was very, very lucky to have Lilla and Nora [Zuckerman, Poker Face showrunners] showing me the ropes of how that works, and how to work in the writers’ room, and to have a really talented group of writers to collaborate with. At the same time, working with them was fun because it was the best of both worlds. We got the collaboration of the room, but I also felt like I could take creative ownership of it and really kind of come at the whole season and dive into it the way that I dive into my own movies. So I had such a great experience and so much of that is chalked up to the Zucks kind of holding my hand and showing me how it works.

I know you’ve said you wanted to recreate the joy you felt as a kid watching shows like Columbo. When you watched Poker Face edits back did you have a goosebumps “We did it, Joe!” type of moment?

[Laughs] I mean, not the first edits. Anyone who makes movies knows it’s always terror and like, “Oh my god. You’re trying for this. Did we get there?” But I’ll tell you, last night at the premiere — we did a little premiere in Los Angeles — we screened the pilot for an audience of people. And when those yellow titles came up at the beginning I did have a little “Chewie, we’re home” moment. It was pretty nice. Yeah, I feel very, very proud of the whole series. I feel like what we set out to do we were able to do, and then we’ll see what people make of it.

We, of course, have to talk about Natasha, who is so essential to the show. I know you two are friends, you’re a Russian Doll fan, you had her in mind for this role from the start. Did she exceed your expectations in every possible way? And do you have a favorite memory with her on set, or are all of your memories on set just you playing Pokémon GO?

[Laughs] I don’t play it that much! I do play it that much, actually. Do you mind? I’m gonna actually spin some PokéStops. Well, Natasha. I mean the show starts and ends with Natasha. It’s beyond even just me catering the part to her. Her and I sitting down and talking about what this show could be was the origin of it. And we’ve really built this house together. She’s been a true collaborator from the very start on it. And it’s so funny…on set, I think because this role takes so much preparation for her — on a base level she has so many lines to learn, so much to keep straight week to week — when she gets on set she has a really interesting method. She likes to keep a certain amount of free-flowing chaos going so it doesn’t just feel like doing it by the book, and she can keep the performance alive. What that translates to is she and I would spend a lot of time on sets singing the “Meow Mix” song to each other or singing Led Zeppelin songs, but done in the “Meow Mix” style.

Oh, how interesting! [Laughs]

[Meowing what sounds like Led Zeppelin’s “Whole Lotta Love”] Meow meooow, meow meow meow! Meow meow! Meow meow! Yeah, we just would drive the fucking crew nuts and everyone wanted to kill us and we were just having the time of our lives.

They knew they couldn’t kill you.

Season 2! We’ll see! [Laughs]

Since Natasha had that Glass Onion cameo, does that mean a potential Benoit Blanc/Charlie Cale crossover is out of the question, or is there still hope?

Well, here’s an interesting thing. So if you look at her cameo on Glass Onion she’s in the Charlie Cale makeup and look in her trailer in between setups on Poker Face. So it’s Natasha, [and] in the world of Glass Onion, Poker Face is a show that his friend Natasha is shooting.

No way! I love that. Speaking of Easter eggs, I know you enjoy including them in your work, whether it’s a repeat cameo from Noah Segan or Joseph Gordon-Levitt — who we’re blessed with again — or something more discreet. Are there any Poker Face Easter eggs you’d like to shout out?

I’m trying to think if there’s anything really specific that we got in there for it. I mean, to me — these aren’t really Easter eggs — but to me, in the casting…just putting people in the cast where it’s going to be like, “Oh my gosh!” John Ratzenberger is maybe the ultimate example of that, because I directed the second episode and getting to cast John Ratzenberger and have him play the mechanic, Abe, in that, and getting to to work with him on set…for me, when he pops up on screen I feel my deep love of him and of Cheers and of TV. It just all culminates into that. So I know that’s not really an Easter egg, but for me that’s kind of the joy of this, with the casting, is people where when they come on screen hopefully if you’re watching you go “Oooh!” That makes me happy.

Yes! I experienced so many of those moments while watching the first six screeners. Are you able to tease the finale at all, which I believe you wrote. I’m hoping we’ll finally get to see Daddy Sterling.

It’s possible! It’s possible! The finale is the first thing I’ve ever written but not directed. And I was incredibly lucky to have Janicza Bravo direct that episode and she just took it to the next level. I’m so proud of that episode. But I will say that the story in the finale, even though all the episodes are very episodic, in the finale we are going to circle back and come back to the story that we started in the pilot. So I’ll say that much.

Your showrunners also mentioned that in the spirit of Columbo, it might be fun to bring back a Season 1 star as a completely new character if the show continues.

I think that’d be awesome. I think Noah Segan could easily be the Patrick McGoohan. And I’ve already done that with him with Knives Out and Glass Onion, so the seal is broken on that.

Yes! I believe they called Noah your lucky penny.

[Laughs] He’s a lucky penny. I’ll call him that. I like that… But look, I mean, any one of these actors. I looked down the list of the actors we got to be guest stars in these episodes and my eyes go wide. I still can’t believe the roster we got, so I should only be so lucky.

Well it’s been such a pleasure, Rian. Thank you so much for your time and all of your work!

Thank you so much. SWEATER!

SWEATER!

This interview was edited for length and clarity.

The first four episodes of Poker Face are now streaming on Peacock with new episodes dropping weekly on Thursdays.