The Real Reason Poker Face Ended, According to Natasha Lyonne

Peacock walking away from Poker Face after two seasons felt abrupt to a lot of people. Natasha Lyonne? Not so much. She saw the breadcrumbs, flipped the sign to 'closed,' and apparently tossed a car off a cliff to really drive it home.

So, Poker Face is done at Peacock... and Lyonne kind of called it

Last month, word came down that Peacock would not pick up a third season of the murder-mystery-of-the-week led by Lyonne. She told THR she and Rian Johnson basically baked a farewell into the season 2 finale, which was literally titled 'The End of the Road.'

'We weren’t shocked! I’m so grateful that Rian and I directed a finale last season called The End of the Road — that should have been a little clue, folks. We literally threw the car off a cliff!'

That last bit is not a metaphor. As sign-offs go, it was fairly on-the-nose.

Could the show pop up somewhere else? With Peter Dinklage as Charlie?

Here’s the curveball: there’s chatter that Poker Face could be shopped to another outlet, and in that scenario Peter Dinklage might take over as the lead — as in, he would step in as Charlie Cale. Wild idea, but Lyonne is fully into it. She called Dinklage one of her favorite people and said she loves Game of Thrones, and generally framed the possibility as all upside. If it happens, she’ll be watching from the couch like the rest of us.

Maybe not goodbye forever: a TV movie is on the table

Even if we’ve seen the last of Lyonne’s take on Charlie in series form, she’s not ruling out a one-off special down the line — something in the Columbo vein. Stranger things have happened.

Lyonne’s next chapter: get behind the camera

Part of why she’s at peace with the show ending is that it frees up time to direct movies — something she’s been building toward after writing and directing for TV.

'For me, baby’s gotta direct some movies. I’ve been talking about it long enough... The unfortunate thing about a human timeline is that, much like the sand in the hourglass, these are the days of our lives. I gotta get these movies under my belt.'

First up: Bambo

Lyonne will write, direct, and produce a feature called 'Bambo.' The story follows a Brooklyn-born boxing promoter dad in the 1980s who tries — and fails — to become the next Don King, dragging his young daughter through the chaos along the way. Expect tax evasion, cocaine, race cars, busted dreams, and heartbreak. It’s a lot, and it sounds like she wants it to be.

Quick recap of where things stand

• Peacock is not renewing Poker Face for season 3.
• Lyonne says the season 2 finale — titled 'The End of the Road' and directed by her and Rian Johnson — was designed as a proper sendoff. Yes, the car goes off a cliff.
• If the series finds a new home elsewhere, one idea floating around is Peter Dinklage taking over as lead, playing Charlie Cale. Lyonne is very into that.
• She’s open to a standalone TV movie someday, Columbo-style.
• Lyonne is shifting focus to filmmaking, starting with 'Bambo,' about an ’80s Brooklyn fight promoter whose big Don King dreams implode — and the messy ride he takes his daughter on.

And if you’re new here: what Poker Face is

Poker Face is a weekly-case mystery series about Charlie Cale, who has an uncanny knack for knowing when someone’s lying. She crisscrosses the country in a Plymouth Barracuda, stumbling into new oddballs and fresh crimes everywhere she stops — and she just can’t help but solve them.