‘Poker Face’ Showrunner Tony Tost Talks Throwing Out the Rule Book for Season 2 in Big Episode 3 Twist

Note: This story contains spoilers from “Poker Face” Season 2, Episode 3.

Any “Poker Face” fan would have expected the second installment of the Rian Johnson-created series to play out in a similar way to last season: Natasha Lyonne’s Charlie Cale travels across the country in her Plymouth Barracuda solving murders before the finale sees her come face-to-face with the current antagonist.

But, instead, “Poker Face” threw out the rule book and eliminated the threat looming over Charlie from mob boss Beatrix Hasp (Rhea Perlman) in just the third episode of the season with an FBI string gone wrong that puts Beatrix into witness protection and Charlie without a hit on her head.

“When we started talking about different options of a … through-line, I don’t think any of them really excited us creatively,” showrunner Tony Tost told TheWrap. “We’re under that assumption that you have this big bad that’s a threat … but do we have to? Is there anything in the rule book says we can’t resolve that actually early?”

The third episode, which also features guest star John Mulaney as a crooked FBI agent working alongside Simon Helberg’s Luca, avoided “Poker Face” from repeating itself, Johnson told TheWrap, noting a more predictable Season 2 would have had Charlie and Beatrix face off in the finale. In fact, the twist opens up a new challenge for Charlie as she confronts why she takes comfort in being on the road.

“It places much more pressure on the character to take away the easy external thing of she’s on the run and being chased and put on her and say, ‘no one’s chasing you. Where do you want to be? Who do you want to be? Why can’t you settle in any one place? What keeps you moving?'” Johnson said. “And the answer is not someone’s chasing you, it’s that you can’t settle any place.”

The end of Episode 3 introduces a new through-line for the season as Charlie connects to a CB radio and begins chatty with Good Buddy, voiced by Steve Buscemi.

Below, Tost reveals how Good Buddy pays homage to trucker movies and breaks down how Charlie’s self-searching might evolve over the installment.

TheWrap: What was your North Star as you joined the team and started crafting Season 2?

Tost: I came on for Season 2 as a big fan of Season 1 and wanting to build on what the [Zuckermans] and Rian and Natasha and everyone involved in Season 1 pulled off so well. My pitch in getting this job was like “the show works; I have no course corrections to pitch, the big fundamental elements of the show — Natasha as Charlie, the weekly mysteries, the guest stars, her being on the road — I love that. Let’s keep doing that, but let’s just see what you didn’t have time to do in Season 1, and just build on that, and just see what else you can sport. In the accumulation of really good episodes, we’ll figure out what the bigger Season 2 story is.”

How does Charlie’s freedom change the show moving forward?

It gives a chance for Charlie to, now that she doesn’t have somebody trying to shoot her every minute, really think about what she wants out of her life, and what is she looking for. And each town or each community she comes into, is this my new life? It could be my new life. By the end of the season, she’ll give it a try. She’ll want to try to settle down, she’ll get off the road for a little bit and try to figure out what that’s like and, because of the nature of who she is, and because this ability she has to know when people are lying, a kind of stationary, communal life is a little bit more difficult for her than it might be for other people. It gives us a chance to explore an internally, character-driven journey in Season 2, as opposed to having a little bit less of an external thread on our tail.

Will we see Beatrix again?

Tune in for the end of the season to see whether or not there’s any return of Beatrix Hasp.

You created a new through line with Steve Buscemi as Charlie’s radio friend. Why did you want to add in this element?

That was actually something, a weird thing, that I pitched coming in, trying to make my case to get the job. The big, honest reason is I miss trucker movies. I love trucker movies — Burt Reynolds in “Smokey and the Bandit” and Kris Kristofferson in “Convoy” … my parents were CB radio nuts. There’s something nicely retro about Charlie — her being on a cell phone just never quite feels right, but her on a CB radio feels really natural. I just pitched that idea, and then once we incorporated it, it’s like something like you might see in a 1980s show. We don’t see Good Buddy in Season 2 — he’s a voice, but [he’s] this person that she can talk to. It’s a way for Charlie to talk about what’s on her mind, and to talk through some things. It was just a fun, almost retro — both the technology, but also as a dramatic device — something we had not seen for a while that we kind of remembered from our childhood. It’s pulling elements from the pop culture past and bringing them into the present moment, trying to make them feel fresh and new.

How did Steve come together in that casting?

Rian was like, “let’s try Steve Buscemi.” And then Steve Buscemi was like, “okay, let’s do it” and came in and did it. I think my pitch originally was like, “do we get a Walton Goggins type?” but then … that’s kind of what you’re expecting. If it’s actually like a consummate New Yorker like Steve Buscemi to be doing the voice of a trucker might just add a little bit of texture and make it a little bit less of a trope.

This season upped the amount of big guest stars. How do you go about casting for those roles?

Natasha and Rian have a lot of cool friends and … because [Season 1] was so strong, and the Zucks and everyone else involved did such good work, it’s appealing for a lot of actors to come in — it’s not a huge time commitment and they get to come in and work with Natasha and be here for two weeks max, and play an interesting character. It’s a combo of traditional casting, but a lot of text messages from Rian and Natasha to their cool friends and roping people in and some people just letting it be known that they would love to be on the show because they dug Season 1.

What conversations have you had about a potential next season?

We’re still finishing up the finishing touches on Episode 12, the finale, and so … it’s like, let’s see how Season 2 is received, see how everyone’s feeling and then have the conversations then. [We] … don’t want to be too presumptuous in a way, and just keep our eye on the ball of making sure Season 2 ends with all the VFX and the sound and the sound mix and everything in place, and then maybe, when everybody catches their breath, we’ll think about talking about the possibility of a Season 3.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

“Poker Face” Season 2, Episodes 1-3 are now streaming on Peacock, with new episodes debuting every Thursday.

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