Poker Face Season 1 Watch Guide: Which Guest Stars Are in Which Episodes?
Before Poker Face returns to Peacock for Season 2, let's take a look back at the biggest guest stars in Season 1.
The Peacock original mysteries series Poker Face is a delight because of its episodic format, its star Natasha Lyonne, its smart writing, and much more. There are so many reasons to love this show, but one of the biggest is undoubtedly the rotating roster of special guest stars who pop in for every single episode.
With Season 2 fast approaching, Poker Face promises to bring even more famous faces into the fold for Charlie Cale's (Lyonne) next round of cases, including everyone from Cynthia Erivo to Richard Kind, and the guest star roster will just keep growing from there. With that in mind, if you're looking for the most famous faces in Poker Face Season 1, we've rounded up all the biggest guest stars (meaning stars who show up for just one episode, not recurring cast members like Benjamin Bratt and Simon Helberg) on the series so far, listed by episode, so you'll know exactly where to find your favorites.
RELATED: What Happened at the End of Poker Face Season 1?
Poker Face Season 1 Guest Star Guide
Episode 1: "Dead Man's Hand"
Guest Stars: Adrien Brody, Noah Segan
Charlie Cale is just a waitress at a Nevada casino with an uncanny ability for detecting when someone is lying, when she's suddenly thrust into the middle of a conspiracy. After the murder of her best friend, Charlie gets embroiled in the secret schemes of a casino mogul's son (Adrien Brody, The Brutalist), which eventually drives her out of town and onto the road to get away from what feels like certain death. Brody is the biggest guest star here, but keep an eye out for Noah Segan (Blood Relatives, Knives Out), longtime friend and collaborator of Poker Face creator Rian Johnson, as Sheriff Parker too.
Episode 2: "The Night Shift"
Guest Stars: Hong Chau, John Ratzenberger
When her car breaks down in New Mexico, Charlie is embroiled in a mysterious death tied to a local Subway sandwich shop, an auto mechanic, and a convenience store. As she tries to get to the bottom of things, she meets a streetwise trucker named Marge (Hong Chau, The Menu), and enjoys the kindness of the auto shop owner (John Ratzenberger, Cheers) as she tries to get enough money together to repair her car.
Episode 3: "The Stall"
Guest Stars: Lil Rey Howard, Danielle Macdonald
In Texas, a stray dog gets Charlie into trouble at a local BBQ joint, where she's forced to work to pay off all the meat the dog devoured on her watch. While there, she investigates the death of the head chef, which leads her to his shady brother (Lil Rel Howery, Get Out), and the victim's wife (Danielle Macdonald, Bird Box), as well as a scheme to steal the family business with the help of a carefully timed radio broadcast.
RELATED: Every Guest Star in Poker Face Season 2
Episode 4: "Rest in Metal"
Guest Stars: Chloe Sevigny, John Darnielle
Charlie picks up a job running the merch table for a one-hit wonder heavy metal band which peaked in the '90s, and stumbles on a mystery when their new drummer dies unexpectedly, and their lead singer Ruby (Chloe Sevigny, Big Love) and guitarist Al (John Darnielle, The Mountain Goats) seem to be passing off the dead drummer's potential hit song as their own. Every Poker Face episode is funny, but "Rest in Metal" gets a particularly good payoff when the band realizes where the melody of their stolen song actually came from.
Episode 5: "Time of the Monkey"
Guest Stars: Judith Light, S. Epatha Merkerson
Charlie lands a job on the support staff of a retirement community, where she meets delightful old hippies Irene (Judith Light, who won an Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actress for this episode) and Joyce (S. Epatha Merkerson, Law & Order), who tell her tales of their time in an old commune that went bad when the police raided their home. The more Charlie gets to know the women, though, the more she suspects they might have something to do with the suspicious death of a recently arrived resident with a link to their past.
Episode 6: "Exit Stage Death"
Guest Stars: Ellen Barkin, Tim Meadows, Jameela Jamil
Charlie is waitressing at a theater when she encounters actors and former co-stars Kathleen (Ellen Barkin, Animal Kingdom) and Michael (Tim Meadows, Saturday Night Live), who seem to be at odds with each other in a potentially violent way. But when Michael's wife Ava (Jameela Jamil, The Good Place) turns up dead, Charlie digs into possible motives, while Kathleen is determined to give the performance of her life even if it kills everyone around her.
Episode 7: "The Future of the Sport"
Guest Stars: Charles Melton, Tim Blake Nelson
While working at a go-kart track, Charlie befriends rising star stock car driver Davis (Charles Melton, May December) and eventually makes her way to the local speedway, where an incident of sabotage escalates a feud between Davis, considered the next big star on the scene, and the veteran racer Keith (Tim Blake Nelson, Watchmen), who refuses to retire and is convinced he's still got at least one good race left in him. The two drivers are at each other's throats, with brutal consequences, and it's their families who'll take the brunt of the damage.
RELATED: Everything to Know About Poker Face Season 2
Episode 8: "The Orpheus Syndrome"
Guest Stars: Nick Nolte, Cherry Jones
An odd errand while working in a barbershop leads Charlie to the home of Arthur (Nick Nolte, The Prince of Tides), a legendary visual effects artist who's just had a visit from an old friend (Cherry Jones, Succession) who asked for help with an unorthodox project. Arthur's built a realistic recreation of a dead man's face, tied to a recent suicide, which is itself tied to a 40-year-old conspiracy involving behind-the-scenes footage from an old film shoot. Charlie's thrown headfirst into the cutthroat world of Hollywood craftpeople, for one of her most intense cases yet.
Episode 9: "Escape from S**t Mountain"
Guest Stars: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Stephanie Hsu
Another old pal of Poker Face creator Rian Johnson, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, guest stars as Trey, a stock broker under house arrest for insider trading, who crosses paths with Charlie while she's traveling around with a kleptomaniac drifter known only as Morty (Stephanie Hsu, Everything Everywhere All At Once). While trying to cover his tracks after a joyride while his ankle monitor was turned off, Trey runs afoul of Charlie and Morty, and puts Charlie in the most precarious situation she's been in since leaving Nevada.
Episode 10: "The Hook"
Guest Stars: Ron Perlman, Clea Duvall, Rhea Perlman
Charlie's time on the run finally comes to an end when she encounters Sterling Frost Sr. (Ron Perlman, Hellboy), the casino owner who's sworn revenge against her for his dead son. When a deal with Frost goes wrong, Charlie hides out at the home of her sister (Clea DuVall, The Handmaid's Tale), then has an unexpected run-in (by phone) with Frost's rival, the mob-tied casino owner Beatrix Hasp (Rhea Perlman, Cheers), setting the stage for a new season of cases, and more living on the run.
Poker Face returns May 8 with new episodes. Stream the whole first season on Peacock now.
