With Natasha Lyonne‘s Charlie Cale on the run once again in the Season 2 finale of Poker Face, here’s hoping Patti Harrison‘s Alex isn’t far behind.

Ahead of Thursday’s episode ‘The End of the Road’, the comedian spoke to Deadline about taking on the “dream role” of the mysterious Alex, at first introduced as a quirky friend and potential Watson for the troubled protagonist Charlie’s Sherlock, but revealed in the finale to be the Moriarty of the story.

“I think that was an important part too, is just not that my character be so goofy and silly, ’cause I think they trusted me a lot to imbue it with humor, but that wasn’t my directive going in,” explained Harrison. “I wanted to kind of figure out what would be the straight version of that first, because it is a devastating moment for Charlie.”

In the penultimate ‘Day of the Iguana’, directed by Ti West, an assassin (Justin Theroux) frames Alex for murdering the groom (Haley Joel Osment) at a wedding she and Charlie are catering.

“Wait, Justin Theroux was in it? … Oh, that other bum-ass, show-off actor. I’m kidding. I adore him,” joked Harrison. “I just feel like I’m in debt to him for just all the goofing around and silly fun times we’ve had on set.”

The Lyonne-helmed finale ‘The End of the Road’, now available to stream on Peacock, sees Charlie and Alex on the run from the FBI and the mob as they get to the shocking truth behind who placed the hit and framed her.

As revealed in her menacing act-three monologue, Alex is actually the world’s deadliest assassin who became bored with killing bad guys until she heard about Charlie, the elusive human lie-detector. Deciding Charlie is her new challenge, Alex embeds herself in the amateur sleuth’s life, using her to get to mob boss Beatrix Hasp, her actual target.

“As soon as I could imagine what it would be like to act, I wanted to play an assassin or a ninja or something,” raved Harrison. “But as a kid, I actually wanted to be an assassin or a ninja, so it’s kind of better for everyone if I just do it on screen.”

Read on about Patti Harrison’s experience joining Season 2 of Poker Face, that shocking finale twist and what lies ahead for Alex in Season 3.

I feel so blown away and lucky to get to play what is really a dream role, not even just—I was about to say my whole life, as soon as I could imagine what it would be like to act, I wanted to play an assassin or a ninja or something. But as a kid, I actually wanted to be an assassin or a ninja, so it’s kind of better for everyone if I just do it on screen. And I’m still not sure on that. I’m taking a Muay Thai, self-defense, jiu-jitsu, Krav Maga class, and I found that my ability to overpower someone else is very far away in the future, and maybe not even. Maybe the opportunity for that was in the past. And now I’m best used, just kind of pretending I can beat people up when, actually in real life, everyone on earth would whoop my ass. …  The actual process of building the character and stuff, was really fun. It was really daunting. I appreciated how much space I had with fleshing out the character, but I do think they also wanted something specifically with the tone, and I think a lot of times, that’s challenging if you’re in a in a dramedy or a show that tonally needs to be able to get back to the emotional stakes without being too hammy or weird, and so, Natasha really had a vision for the character, but she really gave me space to throw … spaghetti at the wall, that’s what it felt like. And Tony Tost, who’s [the showrunner] was incredible, truly such a rock, and what I will say is his humor, but also his understanding of where the core pain and sort of darkness of these people and what the stakes would be if they lost something, it’s just the way that he explains the story. I’m not doing a good job of articulating it. But it was just a really gentle guiding hand when the work for the character was actually kind of intense, cause I was doing stunts for the first time, which was awesome, which I think was my favorite part of the whole show. And just kind of having to play two characters and not shooting completely chronologically, so it was kind of figuring it out as we go along with what felt right for when we finally were starting to do the scenes and what would feel kind of like ultimately the most surprising shift in tone, but also would still make sense for the world to make it not feel so goofy, I guess, cause the odds of feeling too goofy, they’re there, they exist. 

Wait, Justin Theroux was in it? … Oh, that other bum-ass, show-off actor. I’m kidding. I adore him. I adore Justin Theroux. I would—and who knows if I’ll regret saying this in print later—but, I would actually, if he was like, “I’ll pay you $300 to go beat up that person,” any random person on the street, any random person online, I would go do that. I know I would lose, and they would whip my ass instead, but I just feel like I’m in debt to him for just all the goofing around and silly fun times we’ve had on set. 

I think that was an important part too, is just not that my character be so goofy and silly, cause I think they trusted me a lot to imbue it with humor, but that wasn’t my directive going in. I wanted to kind of figure out what would be the straight version of that first, because it is a devastating moment for Charlie, especially after two seasons of the show about this person who’s been hunted and on the run and so isolated, and kind of sorting out what what the rest of their life would look like if it’s all worth it. It is just like a really sad, like the loneliness that you feel in a movie that would be about outer space or a TV show about outer space. I keep calling it a movie because filming it felt like a movie because of how cool all the stages were and the sets, and it was my first time working with Ti West and like Rian Johnson and all these people who I’m like, “Movies, movies!” And I think it should all be viewed in one sitting as a movie, it’s the original way it was intended to be watched in one sitting, the first and second season as one film.

Oh yeah, it was so cool. When you’re on set too, I have tone blindness when it comes to reading a script, when it comes to filming something, and then whenever I actually see the thing on a screen when it comes out, I’m like, “Oh, that’s why they were like doing that. That’s why the camera was on a track, on a dolly.” … I really was so like excited to see. Cause there were so many things that Ti was like, “It’s gonna feel weird, but you’re gonna need to do this. Just really keep doing this longer than you feel you’re gonna want to” in terms of acting scared or having certain reactions. And I think the show is a love letter in a lot of ways to all sorts of TV shows and movies, and everyone involved, they’re all film, TV junkies, and it just really felt invigorating to be like, “Oh we’re telling a story that is moving—everything feels so alive,” I guess. I feel like I’ve watched some stuff recently that just feels like cash grabs, or it doesn’t really matter if the characters have chemistry, it doesn’t matter if the story is exciting or whatnot. They’re just like, “Let’s put this movie out cause we know people will go see it.” Or “Let’s put this TV show out because it’s a franchise, or people will just watch it no matter what.” And it does feel cool to get to work on something where everyone was so excited to talk about the references, and the planning for the shots, and why the camera moves make sense for the story and the characters’ emotional world and stuff like that.

Wait, I didn’t know this. What did you hear?

I’m literally learning this from you. Oh, Clea! She’s so nice. … That is like liquefying my mind, body and soul right now. That is so nice. I really just got the email and an offer, I didn’t audition for it. I auditioned for the first season of Poker Face, and I was not proud of my audition. I think I auditioned maybe twice actually. 

HARRISON: One of them was for the pilot episode, the cleaning lady, Charlie’s friend who’s murdered … I didn’t hear back for, I feel like years, because from that audition process, I think I was in lockdown. And then I got the offer email, and I was like, “Oh my gosh!” And I was truly so mortified because it’s my dream to work with Rian Johnson. … After those first auditions, in my mind, I’ve done such a bad job that I was like, they’re gonna be mad, like, “that dumb ass bitch can’t act,” and I’ll never get to have the opportunity to work with them again. So, when I got the email, I was so ecstatic, and then to get to work on the show, I just kind of dove into it. It felt weird to be like, “So who is responsible for me getting this role?” … I think I just wanted to do such a good job that I blacked out from giving myself brain damage from thinking so hard. 

DEADLINE: Well, I think you did do a great job, andhopefully you’re returning for Season 3, I assume, since they they didn’t find a body. Can you tell me if there’s been any chats about going forward, the whole Sherlock/Moriarty dining dynamic, I guess? 

HARRISON: You know, I wish I could say more, but Peacock actually has in our contracts that if we speak on future seasons, there is an NBC NDA assassin that comes and kills you, using a very unique style of martial arts exclusive to NBC, that they only teach their like top-ranking officials. So, you’ll have to wait and see.