‘Einstein’ Casts Tony Shalhoub as Matthew Gray Gubler’s Father

It’s a Monk reunion on Einstein!

TV Insider has learned that Tony Shalhoub will recur on the upcoming CBS drama (with comedic undertones) as Jack Einstein, the father of Matthew Gray Gubler‘s Lewis, around whom the series is centered. Einstein executive producers Andy Breckman and Randy Zisk served as EPs on Monk (which Breckman also created), on which Shalhoub played the titular character. So he knows that dramedy tone very well.

Einstein, which is set to premiere in the midseason, follows Lewis, Albert Einstein’s great-grandson — making Jack the theoretical physicist’s grandson — who’s described as “brilliant but directionless” and who “spends his days as a comfortably tenured professor until his bad boy antics land him in trouble with the law and he is pressed into service helping a local police detective (Melissa Fumero) solve her most puzzling cases.”

In addition to Gubler as Lewis and Fumero as Teri, the series stars Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor as Capt. Frost.

When TV Insider caught up with Gubler and Fumero in April, both raved about working together. Both also cited working with Breckman as what excited them about the show.

Matthew Gray Gubler called Lewis and Teri’s dynamic “magical. Sensational and magical. Spectacular, marvelous, incredible,” adding, “We’re having a wonderful time together and we’ve only been shooting for 11 days, but it feels like 11 years in the best way.”

Melissa Fumero described the show’s “tonally more grounded than Brooklyn [Nine-Nine], but still has heart and has a little bit of more drama than Brooklyn did. But also very fun and funny.”

Einstein is produced by CBS Studios. Breckman, Zisk, Michael Rauch, Tariq Jalil, Rose Hughes, Rodrigo Herrera Ibarguengoytia, and Laura Beetz serve as executive producers. Gubler is also a producer.

Einstein, Series Premiere, 2027, CBS