If You Liked Cynthia Erivo’s Poker Face Appearance, You Have to Check Out The Outsider

Poker Face is back on Peacock, and its season two premiere features a gangbusters guest-star turn by Cynthia Erivo—playing multiple identical siblings caught up in the latest murder puzzle to cross paths with Charlie Cale (Natasha Lyonne). While fans now immediately associate Erivo with her Oscar-nominated turn as Elphaba in Wicked, one of her first big showcases came on another crime-infused TV series: HBO’s The Outsider.

The Outsider ran in early 2020, concurrent with Erivo’s first Oscar nomination (for 2019’s Harriet), but its airing on such a popular, mainstream platform meant that it was many viewers’ first time seeing her perform. That it was based on the 2018 Stephen King novel of the same name also helped draw interest, as did the rest of the cast: Jason Bateman, Ben Mendelsohn, Paddy Considine (pre-House of the Dragon), and Yul Vasquez (pre-Severance), among others. But if you watched it—and if you didn’t, now would be a fantastic time to start!—the then-emerging star Erivo left the biggest impression.

Erivo plays a recurring Stephen King character, Holly Gibney. Holly made her debut in 2014’s Mr. Mercedes (in the series adaptation of that tale, she was played by Succession‘s Justine Lupe), and she’s still around—she’s the central character in Never Flinch, King’s latest novel, which releases later this month.

In HBO’s The Outsider, Holly’s the co-lead with Mendelsohn’s Ralph Anderson, a Georgia cop grappling with personal demons while facing the most perplexing case of his career. When a boy is found horribly murdered, all the evidence points to a beloved local baseball coach (Bateman), who insists he’s innocent, but is gunned down before his arraignment. The viewer is privy to a strange figure with a malformed face skulking around the show’s early proceedings—and Ralph, a seasoned detective, still can’t shake the idea that the accused was somehow telling the truth.

An unusual crime calls for an unusual investigator, so that’s when Erivo’s character enters the story. Holly’s abilities—she’s highly perceptive, to the point of being extra-sensory; she also has creative quirks, like knowing lyrics to songs she’s never heard before—make her an ideal foil for Ralph, a no-nonsense guy suddenly confronted with the notion that a supernatural explanation may be the only explanation.

Even beyond the outstanding performances, the 10-episode Outsider is a chilling, rewarding ride. It follows a terrifying thread to some very dark places, with atmosphere to spare and an ending that satisfies—but also makes you wish HBO would’ve signed on for more. Alas, at least we got Erivo bringing the house down in Wicked, and memorably taking over the screen in Poker Face‘s return.

The Outsider is streaming on Max. Poker Face is streaming on Peacock.

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.