Poker Face showrunners on custom penis rings and the guest stars they're gunning for in season 2
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Warning: This article contains spoilers from the season 1 finale of Poker Face.
Charlie Cale has solved her last case... for now.
Thursday's finale of Poker Face's freshman season saw Natasha Lyonne's lie-detecting sleuth wrap up her season-long conflict with the Frost Casino and its boss, Sterling (Ron Perlman). No sooner did she do that — with some light assistance from a dick ring and her newly introduced estranged sister (Clea DuVall) — than she found herself to be public enemy No. 1 of a crime syndicate run by Beatrix Hasp (Rhea Perlman, providing a delightfully sinister voice cameo). Charlie ends the season much as she began it, hitting the road while chucking her phone out the window (as she does).
Ahead of the episode, EW spoke with showrunners (and sisters) Nora and Lilla Zuckerman about their favorite episodes, the finale, and which famous faces they're going to call up for season 2.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: The case-of-the-week format lends itself to so many different mini-worlds and characters. Now that the season's all said and done, do you have a favorite episode?
NORA ZUCKERMAN: I think [episode 9] "Escape From S--- Mountain" is obviously our baby. It's the one that we wrote. It's the first episode that we shot, because it takes place in winter, and we needed to shoot the episode before leaves popped up on the trees. We were basically [shooting] in the extremely early spring in New York. So, because it was the first episode, and because Rian [Johnson, series writer, director, and creator] directed it, and we wrote it, there's always going to be a really special place in our heart for that episode. But we had a blast breaking all these episodes. I think the dinner theater episode was the most maybe fun to break in the room.
LILLA ZUCKERMAN: What I'm really proud of, too, is just the tonal range we've been able to bring. You look at episode 5, which takes place in a retirement home, and that is definitely one of our funnier episodes. It's one of our broader episodes, even though there's moments of darkness there. And then you juxtapose that against "Escape from S--- Mountain," which I think is probably our most sinister and thrilling episode, but with elements of humor in it. And yet, they still feel like they're part of the Poker Face world. They are kind of polar opposite ends of the spectrum of tone, but they work together in terms of the season, and I'm just so gratified that we were able to go there.
NORA: Everybody who's experienced the show up until now — I'd be curious once they've seen the finale — everybody has a different take on what's their favorite episode, what's their least favorite episode, which one they connected with, which one they thought was the funniest. And it's all different, and I think we knew that when we were writing it. Everybody is going to have a differing opinion of which episode speaks to them. That's part of the fun of this type of show. There's going to be something for everyone. And because they are, most of them, a very standalone experience, we would love for somebody to call their mom and say, "Oh my God, you have to watch the barbecue episode. That's my favorite." Somebody could come in and just watch that episode and really enjoy Poker Face, and then hopefully that's their gateway drug that makes them watch the whole rest of the series.
I'm glad you brought up the retirement home episode, because a murder in a retirement home — say no more. That concept speaks for itself.
NORA: It's such a great setting because you know that this is a place where people die all the time. So, for somebody to say, "Oh, no, that was a murder," was a great and really fun setup for us. But we also, with that episode, we weren't thinking, "What's the episode that will have the biggest fight sequence in all of Poker Face?" And it's the retirement home episode — that was so unexpected.
So, in the finale there is a ring...
LILLA: The dick ring, I think is the official term.
NORA: I wish I could show the prop email thread on the dick ring, and the back and forth on it. It was extensive. We have an amazing props department run by a guy named Duke Scoppa. When this idea came up — it was really in the script — we knew this is not something you just buy off the shelf. We had to fabricate it, and it had to have the black light glowing ability and all that stuff. So it truly was a custom piece. There were many discussions and we were extremely professional in the way that we went about it.
LILLA: I think we really crafted Rian's vision. [Both laugh]
NORA: I will give all the credit of the dick ring to Rian Johnson, and our props department really executed on it. You love to be on set having a very serious discussion about something ridiculous, and you kind of have to step out of your own body and go, "Is this my job?" And yes, yes, it is.
Peacock Natasha Lyonne as Charlie Cale in the season 1 finale of 'Poker Face'
The finale is really the first time we get some of Charlie's backstory, with the introduction of her sister and niece. Tell me about the decision to wait until the finale and if you think we might get more of that in the future.
LILLA: Well, Charlie's backstory is something we touched on while we were breaking the entire season. We always knew that we didn't really want to delve too deeply into her past, and I think moving forward we will always have a light touch with it. But we arrived at this idea of her having a scene with her sister while we were breaking the rest of the season, and I think it was smart for us to save it for the finale. I think that encounter was inspired a little bit by Inside Llewyn Davis, which has this scene where he goes and visits his sister, and Rian really liked the vibe of doing a scene like that, where you don't necessarily understand all of the old wounds between these people — you just get a little peek. Also, just to have Clea DuVall playing the role of her sister, and she is one of Natasha's dearest friends going back decades and decades, it really felt like this beautiful, very real glimpse into Charlie's past. And then we kind of shut the laundry room door on it for a while. I think moving forward into season 2, we will continue to find out a little bit more of Charlie, but we're only going to get little glimpses like we do in the finale.
The finale obviously leaves room open to season 2, but in a way that also feels really complete for season 1. Did you go into writing the finale with a second season in mind?
NORA: I think that was always the intention. You never know when you're writing something what success it will have. You always want to leave the audience with this feeling of hope that this world and that character goes onward; the idea that Charlie is always going to be out there in the world getting justice. I mean, sometimes it can be a little bittersweet. I think of the end of Quantum Leap as one of those things where he never found his way home. But I think [how] we crafted it is kind of perfect in the way that if we hadn't gotten to season 2, you would always believe Charlie was still on the road and you might run into her somewhere. We see Charlie Cale as a shark. She's always moving forward. She's kind of a seeker in that way, and it spoke to that as well.
So now that we know season 2 is happening, can you say if the format will remain the same? Are there certain locations or worlds you hope to explore? Dream guest stars?
LILLA: Well, I think in season 2, we're going to keep doing what works. I believe that this format is a proven format, this "how catch 'em"-style of storytelling. We're going to continue to stay in that tradition. But, much like we did in season 1, we're going to continue to innovate within that format, and hopefully find new and fresh ways to surprise the audience as we take them on these case-of-the-week journeys. In terms of where we want to go next, oh man, we have so many ideas. I have so many ideas percolating that we weren't able to do for season 1. I know that we're gonna have fresh ideas coming off of what we experienced and saw and loved about this past season. Nora, I'll let you speak a little bit about casting, too.
NORA: One of the things we talked about while we were making season 1 was [how] a lot of the actors just had a blast playing these characters. Even when we were talking about it in the writers' room, we loved the idea that, in the tradition of a show like Columbo, you could bring actors back to play different characters in future seasons, and that's something that we would love to do. And because Rian has this lovely group of actors that he has worked with multiple times over the years — having somebody like Adrien Brody, who Rian has a history with from The Brothers Bloom, come back and do the pilot of Poker Face was a real gift. It felt like a family reunion with some of these episodes, because Rian is so close to Joseph Gordon-Levitt, for example. Having them come back feels in a strange way kind of natural. And, of course, there's people we would love to have gotten for season 1 that we would love to get for season 2, and now hopefully that the acting community has seen season 1 and hopefully had fun watching it, maybe we'll get some knocks on our door from people that want to take on a dastardly villainous role for season 2.
Anyone in particular come to mind?
LILLA: We would love to get Jamie Lee Curtis to play a role. And the cast of Knives Out, we're coming for you. The cast of Glass Onion, we're coming for you.
NORA: Pick up the phone when we call. Maya Rudolph is somebody we talked about because she's one of the producers of our show and a partner of Natasha's. So, it's only a matter of time before a van pulls up to Maya's house and we grab her and throw her in a Poker Face episode. It's just really wonderful that Rian already has this community of people that love working with him. It's a very fortunate problem.
At the end of the season, we don't see her, but we do hear the ominous voice of Beatrix Hasp. Have you had conversations about getting Rhea Perlman in person to be the big bad next season?
NORA: We certainly set her up that way. It's a little early to say how often [we'd see her], but I think much like Sterling Sr. was this kind of looming presence in every episode even if you didn't hear his voice… Again, also, we cast an amazing voice. I think Rhea is such a cool, immediately iconic voice, as was Ron Perlman, so I think you want to see her. She's such an interesting character actor that I cannot wait to see her as the head of the Five Families [crime syndicate].
LILLA: We have Perlman Breaking Bad. It sure helps if she's on board, because I'd love to write it.
NORA: She's a wonderful, scary presence at the end of the finale that you're like, "You'd better get on the road quick, Charlie."
As someone who grew up watching Cheers, it was fun to hear her voice.
NORA: And we have [fellow Cheers alum] John Ratzenberger in the second episode as well. As Lilla said, we're coming for the whole cast of Cheers.
Ted Danson as a Poker Face villain, love it.
LILLA: That phone is gonna ring… [Laughs]
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
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