Monk returns in to start with search at Mr. Monk’s Very last Scenario: A Monk Movie

Adrian Monk’s powers of observation might be a reward…and a curse, but the first glimpse of new Peacock project Mr. Monk’s Very last Scenario: A Monk Movie is only a gift. Full stop.

Monk, which ran from 2002 to 2009 on United states Network and snagged eight Emmy Awards, ended over a 10 years back. But creator Andy Breckman has not stopped contemplating about the defective detective in the yrs considering that. “Monk has been a huge section of my lifestyle for the last 10 or 12 a long time, and the character that I am proudest of almost certainly in my career,” he tells EW. “I was normally hoping for a opportunity to revisit him the way you would want to revisit an aged close friend.”

The very first chance to check in on Monk (Tony Shalhoub) came in the course of the early months of COVID-19, which Breckman says led to a key uptick in followers asking about the status of the detective. “Through the lockdown, every person was inquiring me, and I’m confident they ended up asking Tony, ‘Gosh, I ponder how Monk would fare?’ Or, ‘Maybe Monk would thrive due to the fact he was quickly in his element living in a bubble.’ Everybody was inquiring about Monk and involved about Monk and curious about Monk in the course of the lockdown.”

Breckman calls Shalhoub, who won 3 Emmys for his portrayal of Monk throughout 8 seasons and is celebrating his 70th birthday today, the “coronary heart and soul of the franchise.” So, of class, it was crucial that he also be fascinated in exploring in which and how the character is right now. Fortunately, he was.

After Shalhoub was on board to return, Breckman understood they experienced something. This led to the generation of a shorter showcasing the Monk figures for Peacock’s At-Dwelling Assortment Show, titled “Mr. Monk Shelters in Location,” in which Monk caught up with his friends and comprehensive his lockdown plan. “Tony and his spouse, Brooke Adams, did that 4-minute mini-episode from their apartment,” facts Breckman. “It was directed by Brooke, and NBC really dropped off the products in the hallway outside the house their condominium.”

The optimistic response to the limited led NBC to arrive at out to Breckman and his generating husband or wife, David Hoberman, about the likelihood of building a reunion movie for Peacock. Therefore, Mr. Monk’s Past Case was born.

But admirers will never come across the Monk they left guiding in 2009. The two-portion finale, “Mr. Monk and the Finish,” finally gave Monk and the viewers answers about his wife Trudy’s (Melora Hardin) murder, primary to a hope that Adrian could possibly be on the highway to restoration from the extra serious symptoms of his OCD.

But latest functions upended all of that. “The pandemic threw Monk — and me and you and every person looking at this — for a large loop, and he was abruptly back at sq. a person,” says Breckman. “So the motion picture finds Monk in a rather dark location, and he’s back in a hole that he has to try out to dig out of emotionally.”

Digging out of that hole requires, of program, throwing himself into a situation (and some remedy periods with Hector Elizondo’s Dr. Bell, as evidenced in the initial glimpse images). In the series finale, Monk fulfilled Molly (now played by Caitlin McGee), Trudy’s daughter from an affair. Their romantic relationship was quite new very last we still left them, but the two have come to be shut in the time absent. “Molly has been Monk’s support program for the previous 10 yrs and has served him effectively,” notes Breckman. “And you will find obviously passion concerning them.”

When Molly’s fiancé is murdered, Monk devotes himself to solving the circumstance, after once more throwing himself into a mystery with a deeply particular connection to his personal lifetime. “When people check with me what the initial series was about, I usually say it was about reduction,” suggests Breckman. “It was Monk working with the loss of his beloved wife, Trudy. And that, of class, we solved in the series finale. But the film offers Monk with an equally psychological problem that he has to move up and tackle. We located a way to raise the stakes nonetheless yet again for this poor male.”

Boosting the stakes includes placing Monk in a hazmat go well with. We know Monk enjoys his hand wipes and disinfectant, but this tactic for working with his germaphobia is on a new level. “Monk, like all of us, put in a couple months at the peak of the pandemic in a hazmat go well with, possibly practically or figuratively,” Breckman teases. “There are 1 or two mini flashbacks in the motion picture, and that picture (beneath) may be from a single of the pandemic flashbacks.”

The film also finds Monk dealing with off from a new foe, Rick Eden (played by Rome‘s James Purefoy), an egotistical billionaire obsessed with turning into the initially civilian to orbit the Earth. If that appears a lot like some contemporary figures, that’s by design and style.

“The ideal tales are ones exactly where Monk is heading up towards anyone quite, very strong, extremely sturdy, and very dismissive of him — a person that underestimates Monk from the commencing,” Breckman states. “In this globe, there is no one particular additional effective than these Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos sort of people. In this case, the James Purefoy character is creating a rocket. He’s sending himself into space.”

Adds Breckman: “You may well be fascinated to know that when I pitched this story to Peacock, the very first detail I reported in the pitch was that the rocket never usually takes off for the reason that I required to reassure them it was not going to expense $300 million.”

Even though Purefoy and McGee are new to the proceedings, most of the forged will be acquainted to Monk enthusiasts. Leland Stottlemeyer (Ted Levine), Randy Disher (Jason Gray-Stanford), and Natalie Teeger (Traylor Howard) are all again. And while Sharona (Bitty Schram) isn’t in any of these first-appear illustrations or photos, Adrian’s to start with nurse, who went on to marry Randy, will make an appearance through flashbacks.

“We seriously did really feel like we have been receiving the band back collectively,” he muses. “We only experienced an hour and a 50 percent so we experienced to be a minor selective, but Sharona is a existence in the movie, and we’re satisfied to see her. I desire she was in a lot more, but she’s there. As for Monk’s Brother Ambrose (John Turturro), that could possibly be explanation enough to hope for a sequel to this film due to the fact we failed to get to see him once more.”

That is suitable – the Television movie may be titled Mr. Monk’s Final Circumstance, but Breckman is certainly hoping that would not be literal, just as the series finale — the title of which consists of the terms “the conclude” — has not turned out to be that.

“‘The End’ was not the close and the ‘Last Case’ we hope is not actually the previous scenario,” he suggests. “I have an strategy for a sequel that I might enjoy to do, and if the gods smile on this venture, I hope we get a opportunity to continue our journey.”

As long as there are a great deal of damp wipes.

Mr. Monk’s Last Scenario: A Monk Film debuts Dec. 8 on Peacock.

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