In the three years since The Big Bang Theory wrapped up its monster-ratings run in 2020, just about all of its core cast members went on to various other TV gigs. From Mayim Bialik starring in Fox’s Call Me Kat and intermittently hosting Jeopardy! (for now) to Kaley Cuoco voicing Harley Quinn on HBO Max and anchoring that platform’s now-defunct comedic thriller The Flight Attendant, among other success stories. That hasn’t been the case for TBBT star Simon Helberg, who focused more on expanding his feature work in the years that followed his work as Howard Wolowitz. But that’s changed now, with the actor joining a new streaming series that already has a slew of magnifique TV stars locked down.
Simon Helberg is the latest cast member to sign on for the upcoming series Poker Face, which is still being somewhat cloaked in mystery by co-creators Natasha Lyonne (Russian Doll) and Rian Johnson (Knives Out). At this point, all we really know is a general plotline for the Peacock exclusive, and it sadly doesn’t feature any details about who (or what) Simon Helberg might be playing, according to Variety.
Poker Face will take on a procedural format, with leading badass Natasha Lyonne reportedly playing a character who attempts to solve different murders from episode to episode. It’s not clear if there will be a proper recurring cast keeping things connected, or if each episode will swap new stars in and out as the storyline calls for it.
Speaking of those stars, Simon Helberg will be joining the aforementioned Natasha Lyonne, as well as Super Pumped’s Joseph Gordon-Levitt, The Good Place’s Jameela Jamil, The Goldbergs’ Tim Meadows, Chapelwaite’s Adrien Brody, and Animal Kingdom’s Ellen Barkin. If that wasn’t already enough, there’s also DMZ’s Benjamin Bratt, Free Guy’s Lil Rel Howery, Transparent’s Judith Light, and David Castañeda, who has been a fixture on millions of TVs lately thanks to The Umbrella Academy crushing it on Netflix since Season 3 debuted.
Simon Helberg will certainly need to try hard to stick out in that talent-oozing squad, though he’s obviously used to it, having come from one of TV’s most successful sitcom ensembles. While Helberg did reprise the role of Howard for Young Sheldon, at least in a vocal capacity, his only other TV work in recent years has been voicing a squirrel in Disney+’s adorable Dug Days shorts.
On the big screen, Helberg followed up on his Golden Globe-nominated performance in Florence Foster Jenkins with a role in last year’s musical romance Annette, opposite Adam Driver and Marion Cotillard, and reteamed with Mayim Bialik for her directorial debut As They Made Us. He’ll also be popping up in Kyra Sedgwick’s own first directorial effort, the comedic romance Space Oddity.
Poker Face doesn’t have a production timeline that’s publicly known at this point, though one can assume filming will begin in earnest after Rian Johnson is finished promoting the upcoming sequel Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, which will be making its world premiere at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). There’s already a third film in the running, of course, but it’s presumed that Johnson will fit that project in later on.
