UPDATE: David Castañeda and Stephanie Hsu Join Cast; Joseph Gordon-Levitt to Star in ‘Poker Face’, New Series From Rian Johnson at Peacock
Joseph Gordon-Levitt joins previously-announced Natasha Lyonne (Russian Doll) in the upcoming 10-episode drama series from Knives Out writer-director Rian Johnson.
Variety broke the news, adding that “the show will follow a procedural format and see Lyonne’s character working to solve different murders in each episode”. Peacock gave a 10-episode order a year ago. Johnson created the series and is executive producing via T-Street Productions. It’s unknown whether he will also be writing or even directing any episodes.
Nora and Lilla Zuckerman are co-showrunners and executive producers. Lyonne, Ram Bergman (Rian Johnson’s long-time producing partner), and Nena Rodrigue of T-Street are also executive producing. Maya Rudolph and Danielle Renfrew Behrens will be co-executive producers too.
This will mark another reunion between Gordon-Levitt and Rian Johnson. Starting with Brick, and then with a lead role in Looper, the actor has appeared in some way or another in every project that Johnson has directed — he even had a voice cameo in both Star Wars: The Last Jedi and Knives Out. With the sequel to the latter coming out later this fall, it’s very possible he’ll make another small appearance.
In March 2021, when the series was first announced, Rian Johnson said the following in a statement:
“I’m very excited to dig into the type of fun, character driven, case-of-the-week mystery goodness I grew up watching. It’s my happy place. Having Natasha as a partner in crime is a dream, and we’ve found the perfect home at Peacock.”
Gordon-Levitt can be currently seen in the Showtime limited series Super Pumped, in which he plays former Uber CEO Travis Kalanick. He also voices Jiminy Cricket in the upcoming live-action Pinocchio from Robert Zemeckis, which will debut on Disney Plus later this year.
Poker Face will hopefully begin production soon. It’s possible this is Rian Johnson’s break right before he goes into production of the third Knives Out he is developing for Netflix.
Update:
Variety is also reporting that The Umbrella Academy star David Castañeda and Everything Everywhere All at Once star Stephanie Hsu are also boarding Poker Face.
Miguel Fernández is a Spanish student that has movies as his second passion in life. His favorite movie of all time is The Lord of the Rings, but he is also a huge Star Wars fan. However, fantasy movies are not his only cup of tea, as authors like Scorsese, Fincher, Kubrick or Hitchcock have been an obsession for him since he started to understand the language of filmmaking. He is that guy who will watch a black and white movie, just because it is in black and white.
