Warning: Some SPOILERS lie ahead for Poker Face episodes 1-3!
Natasha Lyonne's Charlie Cale is back for more mysteries, and ing her is Tony Tost as the new showrunner for the new Buffy the Vampire Slayer series.
Poker Face season 2 picks up in the immediate wake of the season 1 ending, in which mob boss Beatrix Hasp reached out to Charlie with the warning of the hunt continuing for her after turning Benjamin Bratt's Cliff against her. The new season sees Charlie continuing her trip throughout the country while running from the mob, getting wrapped up in more mysteries requiring her unique lie-detecting ability to investigate everything from a sextuplet scheming to cheat her siblings out of their inheritance to a jealous police officer looking to beat her rival at all costs.
Ahead of the show's return, ScreenRant interviewed Tony Tost to discuss Poker Face season 2. The showrunner opened up about taking over his role from the Zuckerman sisters, and the three things he wanted to retain from the critically acclaimed season 1, while also discussing some of the new season's guest stars, wrapping up Charlie's mob story, and his thoughts on the show's future.
Tost Came In To Poker Face Season 2 "As A Big Fan"
"There Wasn't Anything I Wanted To Fix, Or Wanted To Course Correct On..."
While Knives Out mastermind Rian Johnson is the overall creator of the show, the Zuckerman sisters were a large part of Poker Face season 1's creative vision, which helped net it a rare 98% approval rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes. As such, when Tost was approached and interviewed to take over showrunning for season 2, he was not only already "a big fan" of the show, but also had no intention of making any big changes to its formula. Instead, he wanted to "build on what the Zucks did in season 1".
"I came in and my take on it was just, 'I don't want to really change the show. My dream version of Poker Face keeps doing mysteries of the week, keeps dropping Charlie into new situations'," Tost explained. "With that in mind, I would love to do my part to help us find new stories, new corners of America, new situations for Charlie that they just didn't have time to do in season 1. There wasn't anything I wanted to fix, or wanted to course correct on."
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Tost also went on to explain that part of the way he sold himself on the job was reflecting on the "three big reasons to watch the show", and how he sought to retain them in season 2. "First is Natasha as Charlie Cale, someone you want to hang out with every week," Tost explained. "Two are the guest stars and the worlds that you're in. And three is having surprising mysteries. Those are the reasons to watch Poker Face."
With this in mind, though, there were a few things that Tost wanted to bring to the world of Poker Face, namely "off-the-beaten-path movies from the '70s", something he, Johnson and Lyonne share a love of as they "are all film buffs". The showrunner listed a few examples that prove to be big influences this season, including the Burt Reynolds-led Smokey and the Bandit, Kris Kristofferson's Convoy and Clint Eastwood's Every Which Way But Loose, as he loves "trucker movies from the '70s". "Can we get a CB radio in here", Tost recalled asking during production. "I miss CB radios. That seems more Charlie than a cell phone. Let's give her a buddy that she talks to."
Tost also pointed to a baseball-themed episode in the season, and how he and Johnson had a discussion in which they agreed that "instead of Bull Durham, or Major League, or The Natural", the two wanted to "do our version of Fat City", the 1972 John Houston film based on the Leonard Gardner novel. The film was led by Stacy Keach and Jeff Bridges, with the former being an older boxer "past his prime" and the latter playing "a young guy on his way up", which was a "dynamic we wanted to explore" in the show, "the people who never quite made it".
There's a desire on my part of, "Don't drop the ball," and then just find these other little things that other TV shows aren't doing. Not try to copy trends, or try to approximate what the newest HBO show is doing, but kind of do this strange little thing that Poker Face does.
The Show's Casting Process Is A Unique Mix Of Writing & Connections
"...It's A Little Bit Of Chaos, But The End Results, I'm So Delighted..."
In addition to Lyonne's unique ability to detect lies, Poker Face's case-of-the-week formula quickly made it known for its wide roster of big-name guest stars in each episode. Season 2 is keeping this going just from its first three episodes alone, including Wicked's Cynthia Erivo playing sextuplets, Giancarlo Esposito as a heartbroken funeral director and John Mulaney as a corrupt FBI agent, among others. The rest of the season will also see everyone from Simon Rex to Alia Shawkat, Awkwafina, Kumail Nanjiani and Melanie Lynskey appear.
When asked about the casting process for the show, Tost confirmed that it comes down to a mix of the group having a dream list of actors they want for Poker Face, writing roles with certain characters in mind, and Johnson and Lyonne pitching their own thoughts. "Episode 3, Wyatt Cain, when he was pitching that episode, was like, 'We start with an FBI agent, think John Mulaney'," Tost explained. "Natasha sees that as like, 'Yeah, let's just ask John Mulaney.'"
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The showrunner pointed to a few other examples of stars with whom he, Lyonne or Johnson brought on thanks to their personal connections, with Rex being someone Tost previously worked with and remains friends with. "Other times, it could simply be Natasha goes out to dinner with somebody who's like, 'I love Poker Face! Is there a role for me?'," Tost recalled, "and she'll come back the next day just like, 'Hey, let's get my pal in here.' And we're like, 'Yeah, your pal is awesome, let's bring them in.'"
Though much of it may be that and the "deep lists" Johnson and Lyonne have, Tost also gave a lot of credit to his "great casting directors, Mary Vernieu and Bret Howe", as they "would do the actual diligent work of who's available" and go through tapes of actors. "And the funny thing about the show is that we're doing this all over again every 10 days," Tost chuckled. "Other than Natasha, the whole show disappears, and we build it again from scratch and recast it from scratch. So, it's a little bit of chaos, but the end results, I'm so delighted by the people that we got."
Wrapping The Mob Story Up Was Partly Johnson's Idea
"Wouldn't It Be Kind Of Fun To Have It Suddenly Resolved..."
While the initial catalyst for Charlie's nomadic life came from being on the run from the mob, Poker Face season 2 notably brings a close to this subplot. Being caught by Rhea Perlman's Beatrix Hasp and tasked with helping her eke out a mole from within her organization, episode 3 ends with Hasp, heartbroken over her husband's death and with nowhere else to go, agree to the FBI's deal of Witness Protection to testify against John Mulaney's Special Agent Daniel Clyde Otis, permitting she removes the hit order on Charlie.
Tost acknowledged that, in the early development of season 2, there was "the presumption" that the mob storyline would remain a part of the show's formula for the season, until Johnson's "initial instinct" was to upend that with "Wouldn't it be kind of fun to have it suddenly resolved". This, in turn, opened the door for her to be "actually kind of free to choose her own life", and thus explore different elements of her character. "We prefer to do this other thing and that might give us a chance to do some stuff that we might not otherwise have the bandwidth to do, just in of storytelling," Tost shared.
I think it'll be interesting towards the end of the season to see what that looks like, if Charlie does try to kind of settle in.
With that in mind, the full-season trailer for the show sees Charlie contemplating the possibility of settling down and ending her life on the road, an idea befitting of wrapping the show up. When asked about Poker Face's potential endgame, Tost acknowledges that he has "thoughts about where it could go", specifically regarding her "normal life", which he says "she's going to give it a try". All the same, though, Tost is ready to keep Poker Face going for many more seasons beyond the season 2 finale.
She'll get a sense that, maybe, life on the road has as many drawbacks as benefits. I think it'll be interesting towards the end of the season to see what that looks like, if Charlie does try to kind of settle in.
Steve Buscemi's Mystery Character Is Not Meant To Be A Foreboding Presence
"He's A Good Voice To Have Out There For Charlie To Talk To..."
One new member in Poker Face season 2's cast is that of Steve Buscemi, a trucker only known as "Good Buddy" whom Charlie connects with via the CB radio in her car. The two quickly connect through their philosophical outlooks on society and their lives on the road, with Good Buddy also occasionally offering nuggets of advice to Lyonne's protagonist during moments of hardship for her.
When asked about how he might factor into the rest of the season, Tost was quick to clarify that Buscemi's mystery character is a "good companion for Charlie when she needs it", and audiences shouldn't "expect for him to intersect with the bigger plot or anything". Instead, the showrunner describes Good Buddy as being "part of the fabric of the show", comparing the character to that of Norm's unseen wife in Cheers.
You never actually needed to see her, in a way, you wanted to imagine her in her world in the same way I'm just delighted by imagining Steve Buscemi as a consummate New Yorker, driving a big rig across America. I like that version of him, so that's kind of what we're going forward with that character.
More About Poker Face Season 2
Poker Face is a mystery-of-the-week series following Natasha Lyonne’s Charlie, who has an extraordinary ability to determine when someone is lying. She hits the road with her Plymouth Barracuda and with every stop encounters a new cast of characters and strange crimes she can’t help but solve.
The first three episodes of Poker Face season 2 are now streaming on Peacock, with new episodes airing Thursdays.
Source: ScreenRant Plus
Poker Face
- Release Date
- January 26, 2023
- Network
- Peacock
- Directors
- Lucky McKee, Natasha Lyonne, Janicza Bravo, Ben Sinclair
Cast
Natasha LyonneCharlie Cale
Benjamin BrattCliff Legrand
WHERE TO WATCH
- Writers
- Wyatt Cain, Alice Ju
- Main Genre
- Mystery
- Creator(s)
- Rian Johnson
- Producers
- Danielle Renfrew Behrens, Rian Johnson, Chris Downey, Iain B. MacDonald, Christine Boylan, Nora Zuckerman, Jeffrey T. Bernstein, Lilla Zuckerman, Nena Rodrigue, Cameron Angeli, Natasha Lyonne, Joe Lawson
- Seasons
- 2
- Story By
- Lilla Zuckerman
- Streaming Service(s)
- Peacock
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