Tony Shalhoub had a great run on the eight-season series Monk, which won him three of his four Emmy Awards. The show ran from 2002-2009, and fans were thrilled when Shalhoub and his wife Brooke Adams made a four-minute film that depicted Monk during the lockdown, which helped to get the ball rolling for Mr. Monk’s Last Case: A Monk Movie. The movie, which dropped in December on Peacock, follows the San Francisco-based detective with obsessive-compulsive disorder returning to solve one last, very personal case involving his beloved stepdaughter Molly.
Shalhoub talked about returning to the character along with the show’s creator, Andy Breckman, on a panel at Deadline’s Contenders Television, saying:
“At first it sounded kind of risky. We wanted to raise the stakes, we did not just want to come back with episode 126. We wanted this to be more special. We wanted it to be kind of an event, for the scale to be larger.”
Revisiting the beloved character “wasn’t terrifying, but it was a bit daunting,” the actor said. “But Andy came up with this great script and there was such positive energy from Peacock. Everybody was excited to revisit it. By the time got to shooting on first day, we were revved up. It didn’t take long to fall back in.”
Along with Shalhoub, the movie features several of the series original cast including Ted Levine, Traylor Howard, Jason Gray-Stanford, Melora Hardin and Hector Elizondo. New cast members include Caitlin McGee (Home Economics) as Molly Evans, and James Purefoy (Sex Education) as Rick Eden.
And good news, Monk fans: Breckman is totally game to “explore another chapter.” “This is my retirement plan,” he cracked.
Would you like to see Monk on new adventures?