Everyone’s favorite nurodevergent detective, Adrian Monk (Tony Shalhoub), is back in Peacock’s “Mr. Monk’s Last Case: A Monk Movie.” The USA Network series created by Andy Breckman ran from 2002 to 2009, winning eight Emmy Awards.
The show follows detective Monk who develops obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) after the unsolved murder of his wife. This disorder causes him to fear germs and contamination, and ultimately costs him his job as a homicide detective with the San Francisco Police Department. But he continues to solve crimes outside of the department with the help of his assistant and his former boss.
“Monk” quickly gained a dedicated fanbase who have been clamoring for more since the show’s cancelation. And it seems the series creator is right there with them. “Monk has been a big part of my life for the last 10 or 12 years, and the character that I’m proudest of probably in my career,” Breckman tells Entrtainment Weekly. “I was always hoping for a chance to revisit him the way you would want to revisit an old friend.”
The character did have a small resuragnce during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. “During the lockdown, everyone was asking me, and I’m sure they were asking Tony, ‘Gosh, I wonder how Monk would fare?’ Or, ‘Maybe Monk would thrive because he was suddenly in his element living in a bubble,’” explained Breckman. “Everyone was asking about Monk and concerned about Monk and curious about Monk during the lockdown.”
But the creator refused to do anything without three time Emmy winner Shalhoub. Calling the actor the “heart and soul of the franchise.” Thankfully, he was more than willing to help revive detective Monk.
This led to them creating a short for Peacock’s At-Home Variety Show, called “Mr. Monk Shelters in Place.” Where Monk catches up with his pals and details his lockdown routine. “Tony and his wife, Brooke Adams, did that four-minute mini-episode from their apartment,” said Breckman. “It was directed by Brooke, and NBC actually dropped off the equipment in the hallway outside their apartment.”
The short did so well that NBC approached Breckman and his producing partner, David Hoberman, about making a reunion film. After this the team quickly got to work on “Mr. Monk’s Last Case.” But the new film may not give fans the detective they were hoping for.
In the two part series finale Monk finally got answers to his wife Trudy’s (Melora Hardin) murder. This gave audiences the hope that closure may help him begin to recover from his OCD, and originally that’s where they may have gone. But then the fire nation known as COVID-19 attacked.
“The pandemic threw Monk — and me and you and everyone reading this — for a huge loop, and he was suddenly back at square one,” says Breckman. “So the movie finds Monk in a pretty dark place, and he’s back in a hole that he has to try to dig out of emotionally.”‘
So our beloved detective does what he always does to cope, throw himself into a case with a side of therapy sessions with Dr. Bell (Hector Elizondo). The film will also see the return of Molly (now played by Caitlin McGee), Trudy’s daughter from an affair. While their relationship was still very fresh when the series ended, the two have become close in the time away. “Molly has been Monk’s support system for the last 10 years and has served him well,” Breckman elaborates. “And there’s clearly affection between them.”
Unfortunately in the film, Molly’s fiancé is murdered, so Monk throws himself to solving the case. “When people ask me what the original series was about, I always say it was about loss,” says Breckman. “It was Monk dealing with the loss of his beloved wife, Trudy. And that, of course, we solved in the series finale. But the movie presents Monk with an equally emotional challenge that he has to step up and address. We found a way to raise the stakes yet again for this poor guy.”
All the emotional termoil does send his compulsions into overdrive though. “Monk, like all of us, spent a few months at the peak of the pandemic in a hazmat suit, either literally or figuratively,” teases Breckman. “There are one or two mini flashbacks in the movie, and that photo (above) might be from one of the pandemic flashbacks.”
The character will also be facing a new foe, Rick Eden (James Purefoy), an egotistical billionaire obsessed with becoming the first civilian to orbit the Earth. Which couldn’t possibly be based on a real eccentric billionaire!
“The best stories are ones where Monk is going up against someone very, very powerful, very strong, and very dismissive of him — someone that underestimates Monk from the beginning,” said Breckman. “In this world, there’s no one more powerful than these Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos type of characters. In this case, the James Purefoy character is building a rocket. He’s sending himself into space.”
“You might be interested to know that when I pitched this story to Peacock, the first thing I said in the pitch was that the rocket never takes off because I wanted to reassure them it was not going to cost $300 million,” he added.
While both Purefoy and McGee are new, they are joining several familiar faces returning for the project. Leland Stottlemeyer (Ted Levine), Randy Disher (Jason Gray-Stanford), Natalie Teeger (Traylor Howard), and Sharona (Bitty Schram).
“We really did feel like we were getting the band back together,” Breckman muses. “We only had an hour and a half so we had to be a little selective, but Sharona is a presence in the movie, and we’re happy to see her. I wish she was in more, but she’s there. As for Monk’s Brother Ambrose (John Turturro), that might be reason enough to hope for a sequel to this movie since we didn’t get to see him again.”
Even though the film is called “Mr. Monk’s Last Case,” the creator is hoping that isn’t literal. Keep in mind the series finale is titled “Mr. Monk and the End,” which obviously wasn’t the case.
“‘The End’ was not the end and the ‘Last Case’ we hope is not really the last case,” says Breckman. “I have an idea for a sequel that I’d love to do, and if the gods smile on this project, I hope we get a chance to continue our journey.”
“Mr. Monk’s Last Case: A Monk Movie” debuts on Peacock on December 8th.
