Warning: Major SPOILERS lie ahead for Poker Face season 2, episodes 11 & 12!Simon Helberg's FBI Agent Luca Clark was not only one of the few characters to return for Poker Face season 2, but now may be the only ally to Natasha Lyonne's Charlie Cale after the season's shocking ending. Introduced in season 1 as an agent watching over a senior citizen in witness protection, Luca first returned in season 2 episode 3, having risen through the ranks thanks to Charlie's help in the prior case and now working to help bring down the Hasp crime family by turning Richard Kind's Jeffrey into an informant for him.
After their plan went awry, resulting in Jeffrey's death, but the successful capture of Beatrix and her own FBI mole, Agent Daniel Clyde-Otis, Luca popped back up in Poker Face season 2 episode 11, again having climbed the ranks of the agency, but making an appearance at the wedding of Haley Joel Osment's Kirby Kowalczyk, Beatrix's son who, thanks to her testimony, is able to get a livestream of his wedding. However, while surveiling the wedding with two other Agents, everyone is taken aback when Kirby is murdered by the mysterious assassin, the Iguana, who pins it on Charlie's friend, Alex, sending them on the run.
On the heels of the show's twisty finale, ScreenRant interviewed Simon Helberg to discuss Poker Face season 2's finale. The star opened up about his initial surprise and excitement at getting to reprise the character, particularly as Luca is one he doesn't find himself generally offered to play, as well as his thoughts on what the future holds for Luca and Charlie as she becomes a fugitive from the FBI. He also offered an update on his potential Big Bang Theory return for the upcoming spinoff, Stuart Fails to Save The Universe, and why he's okay leaving Howard where he is.
He Also Doesn't Think "There's Any Stopping" Luca's Climb In The FBI
Simon Helberg's Luca with his mouth agape while in the passenger seat of a truck in Poker Face season 2 episode 12
Natasha Lyonne's Charlie smiling sadly in Poker Face season 2 episode 12
Natasha Lyonne's Charlie looking intensely at The Iguana in Poker Face season 2 episode 12
Luca Clark (Simon Helberg) speechless in Poker Face Season 2 Ep 11
Natasha Lyonne's Charlie looking worried while standing in the street in Poker Face season 2 episode 12
While much of episode 12 saw Charlie and Alex racing to find Beatrix Hasp in the hope of clearing the latter's name in the killing of Kirby, as well as trying to come up with a plan for how to clear her name with the FBI, the Poker Face season 2 ending saw the ultimate rug pull that Patti Harrison's character was actually the Iguana all along. She is also the one who hired Justin Theroux's shapeshifitng assassin to kill Kirby and gain Charlie's trust to find and kill Hasp herself after learning how to lie to Lyonne's lie-detecting protagonist.
After successfully outwitting Alex in a game of two truths and a lie, all of which is done while the FBI chase them down a road leading to the Grand Canyon Canyon, Charlie is able to escape her car as Alex drives it over the cliff, with Luca saving her as she hangs off the side of the cliff. However, when asked if he would be able to again clear her name, Luca lists out a number of federal crimes Charlie inadvertently committed in an effort to help Alex, telling her she's now a federal fugitive and will have to arrest her, though gives her a headstart to escape as the two share a tearful farewell.
Even still, Helberg praised showrunner Tony Tost and the show's writing team for how they're "really making it more and more impossible" for Charlie and Luca to be in a room together, even as they are "also kind of making it necessary", heightening the "tragic" nature of their relationship. Nonetheless, the Golden Globe nominee is very excited to see how "they'll surprise me" should the show get a season 3 renewal and bring him back, as he especially "love[s] getting to work with Natasha".
"I love the scenes that we have together, they always feel very alive, and they're never quite what I think they're going to be when I read them versus when we actually do them," Helberg beamed. "She's such a force, and something happens between us, I think, when we're in those scenes. I don't know what it is, but I really enjoy doing it. I really enjoy watching it."
An interesting new layer to come from Luca's return in Poker Face season 2 is the reveal that he has been dealing with "impostor syndrome eating away at him" due to his quick rise in the FBI thanks to Charlie's case-solving skills. Describing his character as having "this earnestness to him" and a "a moral compass about him" in which he "sincerely wants to do good", Helberg confirms Luca has the awareness "he's fumbling up the ladder at the FBI because of Charlie", particularly as "he's breaking all the rules within the FBI to help her out".
"So, there's a lot of deception going on for poor Luca, but I think his heart is so big that it makes it really funny and sweet to watch him, especially when he gets this kind of swagger, because there really is a strong and wrong quality to him," Helberg explained. "In the way that you see Clouseau back his way into maybe solving a case. But Luca's got the nice suit, and they're just getting nicer, and the sunglasses are getting more expensive. He is probably aware of that cinematic, Keanu Reeves in Point Break version of this guy, and he gets to play that part."
Even still, as Luca has a "struggle between the fun part" of being a star agent "and the guilt complex that he has for maybe not deserving that kind of status", Helberg feels that Luca will only continue to climb the FBI ranks higher. After joking he'll eventually land the job of President, the star expressed his feeling "I don't think there's any stopping him" and that, given he "went from a pretty low rung", he's already coming close to being at the top.
Helberg Was Surprised & Thrilled To Be Invited Back For Season 2
He Was Also Thrilled To Reunite With Another Major Guest Star
Simon Helberg's Luca talking enthusiastically during a presentation in Poker Face season 2 episode 12
With the show featuring a new case each week, complete with a new setting and characters, Luca's return is certainly a rarity for Poker Face, something that Helberg admits "I didn't know" when he signed on for season 1, thinking, "I'll do a couple episodes" before being excited to see "this is a unique guy that carries through the season". As to his season 2 appearance, the star further admitted having "no idea whether there was even going to be a season 2", let alone that he would be back.
"So, it all came about, as things traditionally do," Helberg explained. "I read for the role. I love the people involved, I put myself out there and got to play a part unlike any character I've ever gotten to play before. So, it's been a joy. Rian is one of the great minds around today in film and TV, so to see that dialogue on the page, sometimes it just sings. And I knew this was a special one."
In addition to getting to reteam with Lyonne and Johnson, one reason Helberg was thrilled to come back for Poker Face season 2 was the chance to get to work with Richard Kind after the two previously starred in the Coen Brothers dramedy A Serious Man. Though the two may not have shared scenes together, Helberg recalled they felt like they got to work together on the 2009 film, praising his co-star as being "like a national treasure" and expressing love for both him and John Mulaney, who also starred in their season 2 episode.
"It's a lot of meta, I didn't even realize we were in a parking lot, too, which is another sort of Serious Man trope," Helberg said with a chuckle. "John and Richard together also have like some other strange kind of chemical reaction that might be outlawed in certain states. [Chuckles] It's a very unique chemistry they have, and it's so funny, and they're on his show together. So I felt very, very lucky. I'm such a fan of John's, too, and getting to butcher Sondheim with those two guys was a joy."
Ultimately, one of the key reasons why Helberg continues to enjoy playing Luca and hopes to reprise him if Poker Face season 3 comes about is that "I've never played that kind of character" and loves the "grounded and human" layers of the character. The star goes on to note that there's a great "three-dimensionality" to his character as the writing avoids "a copaganda thing" in portraying the FBI Agent, which Helberg feels "would be a weird lane for me to be in".
He went on to share his own thoughts on Luca's background, feeling "he probably had a bunch of older brothers that were all on the football team", making him "like the runt" of his family until he climbed the FBI ladder to his current place. "I don't know, there's something very endearing about it to me," Helberg expressed.
There Are No Current Plans For Howard's Big Bang Theory Return
Helberg, However, Is Okay Leaving The Character Where He Is
Howard Sitting In Apartment The Big Bang Theory
Howard serenading Bernadette in The Big Bang Theory
Howard, Stuart and Sheldon in The Big Bang Theory
Simon Helberg's Howard and Kunal Nayyar's Raj sit together in an office from The Big Bang Theory
Kevin Sussman as Stuart Bloom in The Big Bang Theory
Looking beyond the series, the conversation turned to the upcoming Big Bang Theory spinoff series Stuart Fails to Save the Universe, which was recently greenlit for a full season at HBO Max and focuses on Kevin Sussman's titular character, as well as Lauren Lapkus' Denise, Brian Posehn's Bert and John Ross Bowie's Kripke. With it currently unclear which other original characters will return for the show, Helberg confirmed "there's no plan for Howard to come back at the moment" in the franchise for Stuart or any other shows.
That being said, Helberg also isn't necessarily racing to reprise Howard in the Big Bang Theory universe, expressing "I like that we left those characters where we left them" and allowing the group to "live on in the minds of people who want to have them in their minds", or as he says with a chuckle, "maybe people who don't". Though acknowledging "there's nothing wrong" with the fact that many shows and characters "tend to come back around these days", he ultimately feels that "there's something nice about closure", and that he's not even sure "where we would see him" in a new show.
"And that's another great example of the arc of all those characters, it was so earned and so real," Helberg explained. "We had 12 years to do it, but it was great to see that kind of growth. And Howard's arc was much, much, much, much bigger than, like, Sheldon's, because Sheldon slowly, slowly, slowly changed. But anytime you can have a show where you watch the characters grow, it's a joy. So, I don't know how much more Howard is growing, but that's in the mind of the audience, I guess."
