Natasha Lyonne is back in season 2 of Poker Face

Poker Face was a breath of fresh air when it breezed onto screens in 2023. The product of a fertile collaboration between Knives Out writer/director Rian Johnson and Russian Doll creator/star Natasha Lyonne, it was a classic “mystery of the week” formula with a couple of appealing twists.

First, it’s what’s known as an inverted mystery, where the audience sees the crime carried out in the early scenes – Columbo style – so the enjoyment comes not from finding out whodunnit but how they’re caught. And second, Lyonne’s character Charlie Cale was blessed with a spooky ability to detect when anyone was lying. Helpful when solving crimes, but also an effective way to get on the wrong side of unscrupulous casino bosses.

Charlie hit the road to escape the clutches of one such, Sterling Frost Sr (Ron Perlman), hiding out in small towns and exposing murderers and criminals along the way. Although the Frost situation was resolved, in a terminal way, it seems Charlie’s problems are never over – so she’s on the road again for season 2, starting on Thursday 8 May at 9pm on Sky Max HD (CH 111).

Charlie gives off a why-would-I-care insouciance, but she’s curious about the world and she’s interested in people – she has what Johnson calls “a legitimately sunny personality” – and that’s why she gets involved in these crime cases everywhere she goes. And we get lots more Charlie this season. “What we reveal about Charlie this season is not her backstory, but more how she deals with each new situation and relationship,” Johnson says.

“She goes on a bit of an existential road trip this season,” says showrunner and executive producer Tony Tost, “while still going from place to place, exploring what it’s like, emotionally and psychologically.” And there’s much to enjoy in what those places are like. Plotlines in season 2 include an animal liberation operation at a police awards ceremony, a retail employee accused of stealing the store’s Black Friday profits and a diabolical plot involving a class pet at an elementary school.

Poker Face has a modern setting, but with Lyonne’s wild hair, baseball caps and classic muscle car, as well as the rickety, dated small towns she often ends up in and plots that rarely rely on up-to-date technology for their twists and turns, it has a decidedly retro feel. That’s reflected in the show’s aesthetic, which takes in dusty truck stops, bizarrely decorated ski lodges and minor league ballparks, not shiny corporate offices or electric vehicles. It’s an odyssey through America’s small towns. But it could also be one through recent US history.

Delivering witticisms with her characteristic raspy voice and world-weary charm, not to mention the twinkle in her eye every time she calls BS on a liar, Lyonne herself is a big part of the appeal of Poker Face. But she shares the screen with a veritable cavalcade of guest stars. In season 1 these included Oscar winner Adrien Brody (The Brutalist), frequent Johnson collaborator Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Looper, The Dark Knight Rises), Chloë Sevigny (Monsters: The Lyle And Erik Menendez Story), Jameela Jamil (The Good Place), Nick Nolte (48 Hrs), Stephanie Hsu (Everything Everywhere All At Once), Tim Meadows (Mean Girls) and more.

And season 2 is ramping up the guest star power even higher, with more cameos per square inch of screen than any other show on TV. We’re pretty sure you’ll know all these faces but if you can't quite put your finger on where you’ve seen them before, click on the face to find out…

The second season of Poker Face begins with a triple bill of new episodes, starting on Thursday 8 May at 9pm on Sky Max HD (CH 111), and will also be available in On Demand > Sky Max.