Natasha Lyonne Opens Up About Poker Face, AI and Making Movies

Natasha Lyonne wants to remind me of something as we’re chatting about Poker Face, AI and the industry, and everything else that is percolating in her mind heading into 2026.

“I’m pretty much always serious and always kidding. I kind of make it a hobby,” she says.

Our conversation bears out that mission statement, as the exiting Poker Face star and burgeoning filmmaker (see Uncanny Valley and the recent announcement for her second film, titled Bambo) reflects on a busy year of several new ventures and accolades, including co-founding her AI film and animation studio Asteria Film Co., announcing her feature directorial debut with AI hybrid film Uncanny Valley and stepping away from starring in the Peacock series she led for two seasons following its cancellation at Peacock, amid industry awards recognition.

When asked about the latter, she takes a beat. “To be honest, I’m really, really grateful. I love the show. I love Rian [Johnson, Poker Face creator]. I love this character. I’m so grateful that the work was acknowledged. It was very meaningful to me,” says the multi-hyphenate, then adding, “And I’m also tech avail for DGA [nominations] — just throwing it out there!”

Read her chat with The Hollywood Reporter below about her decision around Poker Face, what her priority project is for 2026 and her sensible message about engaging with AI.

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We’re speaking after your nominations for the 2026 Golden Globes and Critics Choice awards, and the SAGs (now the Actor Awards) come next. What has this awards recognition meant to you at a time when you are moving away from Poker Face?

I’m very moved and grateful and humbled. I think they should give me that Globe just because we’re all so curious what old kooky-pants is going to say! And, I’m just as curious. It seems like good television. (Laughs.)

Are you preparing an acceptance speech for if you win?

Yes. I’ve memorized Peter Falk’s full Columbo acceptance speech from the Emmys, and I’ll just be reciting that long tale about missed flights and connections that he made through Newark to get to the awards ceremony. I’ve been preparing it for years now, so it’s ready to go. I only know that and the Scarface monologue, and a few key phrases from Mike Leigh’s Naked. That’s my full repertoire.

I have to say, I was shocked to hear the news about Poker Face. [Note: Peacock canceled the series and creator Rian Johnson is looking to find the show a new home but with Peter Dinklage starring in Lyonne’s role of Charlie Cale, and Lyonne remaining an executive producer.]

We weren’t shocked! Isn’t that funny, how that happens? “News to some people,” is what it should say! “New news to just us who haven’t been keyed in on the news as it was unfolding in real time.”

You didn’t call me and tell me, you are correct! So can you bring me inside that decision?

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! We also threw Root Beer in the shot day of — an improvised cameo by my beloved, tiny baby puppy who is 15 but doesn’t look a day over one, thanks to extensive plastic surgery.

I should have known that destroying Charlie’s Plymouth Barracuda was the end.

This is show biz, crazier things have happened. Rian and I might just come back with a good old-fashioned, made-for-TV movie just like Columbo would like to. Stranger things have happened! It might be a crossover with Stranger Things, actually — Charlie Cale might pop in to solve the case of the crossover: “A Knives Out: Stranger Things.”

What can you tell me about the decision-making process [to step away from starring in the show]. I understand you want to prioritize feature filmmaking, so how much of the Poker Face decision was rooted in that?

Yes, and also just to say, I adore [Peter] Dinklage. Game of Thrones is obviously one of my favorite shows, but Peter is also one of my favorite people of all time. It’s kind of all good news. For me, baby’s gotta direct some movies. I’ve been talking about it long enough. I’m very grateful I got to direct TV and write so much of it. I love what I do very much; I’m so grateful that I get to do it. And 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, and I’m also excited about my Sky show with Matt Berry, Force & Majeure, a sci-fi retro endeavor. When we’re done talking, I’m going to get back to that writers room to finish that finale. We shoot in September.

You have a lot of projects. You mention Force & Majeure, and you have two films that we’ll get to. But was moving away from Poker Face difficult, considering how much the show meant to you?

Honestly, I love the show. I love the people. I love our crew. I love all of our actors and all of our friends. It’s a real homemade endeavor. I’ve said it before, but I really see it all as one big movie. So I see it as a lifetime project; life in the arts. You have to do-si-do over here and over there, and back around. That’s how you make a bunch of things.

The character of Charlie Cale is a beautiful character to get to play, such a gift. I always say to Rian: When I created Nadia for Russian Doll, she started off as a nihilist who ended up becoming quite open and sensitive through her journey, and found the profundity and beauty of human connection; a more tender, deeper understanding of human nature, of epigenetic footprint and of what came before and after.

Charlie is an extension of that idea on the road. Someone who has almost lost interest in themselves and who gained interest in their fellows, who cares about the little guy. No man left behind, and looking out for the truth. I do enjoy playing a truth-seeker. I enjoy all of my Philip Marlowe-offshoot characters. I kind of started developing them in basements of YMCAs on foldout chairs watching a series of noir films in my time as a Manhattan autodidact who just dropped out of film school and was determined to learn all of the rules.

Nadia for some reason was always my code name for myself, after Nadia Comăneci. So it was this idea of Philip Marlowe-offshoot characters, kind of like Elliot Gould in Altman’s The Long Goodbye. [Jack] Nicholson has done it so well, with Chinatown. Humphrey Bogart. So many of our friends. It’s a real honor and mantel. I like to Pink Panther around project to project, sort of like the Marlboro Man or Joe Camel. But he’s not popular anymore. He’s off trend — but if he gets a biopic, I’d love to be considered.

HBO was open to scooping up Poker Face. How confident are you that Poker Face will find a new home and continue on?

One day at a time, and we shall see. The future is unwritten, to quote Joe Strummer.

Rian Johnson admitted it’s a big swing to pitch Poker Face with a new star. You were so Charlie Cale.

Thanks so much, I aim to please.

Many things come into play, like episode budgets and ratings. As a producer, how involved are you in shopping the show?

I am involved, yes. As an executive producer, I am involved and in cahoots. And we shall see. No updates to share with you at this moment!

What would it take for you return to playing Charlie Cale down the line?

Oh, just for Rian and I to hang out and make a little album or a single or something. Any time, any place. I’d always be happy to be tapped back in. We should get rid of AI and we should have derivatives — alter egos such that we can have a multiplicity game in the timeline so we can do many, many projects at the same time and proliferate across all mediums and streaming platforms, all of our avatars and offshoots.

But we gotta do [the projects] one at a time. It’s a real miracle the way we all come together and make these things. As anyone who has made anything knows, it’s such a beautiful ride you’re on, and for things to get made at a level as great as Poker Face is astonishing. I was texting with Judy Rhee, our production designer, by golly, is she a sensation? Extraordinary work she does building a new world with each episode of [Poker Face]. Twelve episodes over nine months. It’s an entirely new world each week; for 10-day episodes [of filming]. Our cinematographers are beyond belief.

So [it’s about] the teams that come together; and all the pals. My beloved friends: the [John] Mulaneys and [Alia] Shawkats and Awkafinas — Judith Light! It’s the most fun ever. And then Ti West, Janicza Bravo, Clea Duvall, Mimi Cave. We get some rockstars to come direct that show. Me and Rian too, we have a blast. And sweet Miguel [Arteta, director]. And poor Miguel the singer — I accidentally looped Mulaney in with Miguel [the singer] after Mulaney thought that he caught bed bugs on the set of Poker Face. I did it as a joke. I knew I was giving him the wrong number, but I thought it would be a funny prank. So Mulaney texts Miguel, the R&B crooner, that he has bed bugs from Poker Face. Well, Miguel [the singer] was very confused; John should have been texting Arteta. We enjoy those kind of antics around there.

What is your priority project for 2026?

Probably Bambo. Baby Rambo. It’s a movie I love that I’m directing [just announced by The Hollywood Reporter]. That’s really the one that’s on my mind for 2026. I’m writing and directing.

Where does Uncanny Valley fit into your 2026 plans?

We’re in process. We’re working on it. I was with Jaron Lanier last night. We did a little Q&A in advance of a screening at Vidiots of Stanley Kubrik’s 2001 [A Space Odyssey] with our dear friend, Harper Simon. So Jaron and I were talking last night about it. My beloved Brit [Marling, co-writer]. Ideas, scripts, outlines, drafts, Act 1, 2 3 and so forth; casting, budgets. Amy Poehler always says, “We’re just pushing it up show mountain.” That’s what she would always say to me about Russian Doll.

The announcement (also by THR) of Uncanny Valley sparked a lot of conversation around AI and filmmaking. In the last year, does AI and filmmaking seem more promise-filled or more scary?

Well, it’s definitely a relief to see that other people are starting to notice that you might want to give [AI] a little think. I wasn’t really trying to pull a thread or put my own Q Score down a level by mentioning the very word “AI,” but I’m relieved to see that we’re all starting to get very present and look alive [about AI], and stay connected and alerted.

We founded this CCAI [AI coalition]; we’ve been working on that for some months and I’m so proud to be a part of that community with Joe [Gordon-Levitt] and Dan [Kwan] and friends. I’m so proud of our town for showing up for each other and our unions, and our friends across all industries who stand to be impacted by this TBD real or imagined idea that does seem presently inextricably linked to the stock market, if nothing else.

It’s important for us to all be arms length on this journey in our present and future moments as a human body, and look out for one another. In the advent of all this new tech, it’s more important than ever to stay tender and human and soft — and humbly carry a baseball bat in your back pocket, just in case. It’s got the vibes of truth-telling and truth-searching and pulling that little thread if something seems fishy.

I had an old sponsor who used to say to me, “Looks like the truth, smells like the truth, probably the truth.” I think that’s always worth remembering. Like Charlie Cale, sometimes it’s bullshit, flag on the play! Let’s set up some guardrails first [around AI] and have some dignity, transparency, consent, IP ownership, copyright law. These are some big, crucial ideas that are foundational and worth fighting for. It’s a team sport, making movies and making a life all together. As far as physical and financial security, it’s very important that we look out for each other. We’re a community. Everyone has dreams and hopes and fears and families and ideas, and all kinds of different jobs all over the world. It’s important.

In addition to Animal Pictures, you cofounded of Asteria Film Co [your AI film and animation studio]. When you look at how far Asteria has come in the last year, what are your goals, and are you as involved now?

Yes. At Asteria, we’re just excited to keep making movies. The way we do it over there is sort of the filmmakers vision in such a way that [AI is] not used as training data for other projects. So you have the same good old-fashioned department heads drawing everything up and shooting everything. It’s real filmmaking. It’s not a free for all. You’re actually using AI as a tool. We have that first commercial copyright-wise [AI] model, Marey, and it’s a much better way to do it where you have correct attributions and transparency across all images. There’s definitely a way to do this properly, and it’s not as confusing as everyone is making it. It’s a little bit of a life in code.

When I was writing Russian Doll, Nadia was a coder for video games, so I kind of back-footed my way into all this research. It is an interesting intersection of how storytelling and algorithms are all going to work, and that we’re in the reality of writing this story together. We are just trying our best as a community to look out for each other, and I’m grateful to be apart of a team, because this is going to take all of us to figure it out together in real time.

Do you have any more Nadia in you, for another season of Netflix’s Russian Doll?

Yes. I’m determined to do it [David] Lynch-style – Fire Walk With Me and then Twin Peaks: The Return. I’m determined to follow that model. I can’t tell you when I’m going to hit up Netflix. But it’s incoming, it’s in process. I get to it between other deadlines. I’m on deadline for a lot of drafts. I also owe a memoir at some point. But it’s on my desktop. It’s in Final Draft. I’ll have to go in and pitch it, I’m sure. We’ll see if they let me get away with it. But I don’t know if that will be in two years, 10 or 20, or 35 — if I can upload my consciousness into the cloud while retaining my own data dignity and not having a hive mind, that would be ideal. As you know, I’ve been quite public about wanting to be a brain in a jar for some time.

So when did you have time to film your role in Euphoria season three?

I don’t recall, your honor. I’m pleading the fifth. It never happened. I don’t want to get in trouble. This is probably like a Marvel thing, so I know nothing. I was never there — or maybe I was there the whole time. We shall find out if we stay tuned.

You have been in this industry since you were 4. There’s a lot of change going on with you. Do you keep up with and engage in the social media response or speculation around what people think?

Mostly just comedically. I call it an Algorithmic Tower of Babylon, that’s sort of how I see social media. I do interface with discourse, I guess. But certainly not as a literalist. I take it with its appropriate tobacco — I think that’s the quote, right? Must be it.