Criminal Minds’ Matthew Gray Gubler to Star in Einstein Pilot for CBS

Ryan Schwartz
·2-min read

Matthew Gray Gubler is eyeing a return to CBS.

The Criminal Minds vet has been tapped to headline the procedural Einstein, TVLine has confirmed. The casting comes two months after CBS handed the potential series a pilot order.

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Based on the German dramedy of the same name, Einstein — which hails from Monk creator Andy Breckman and executive producer Randy Zisk — focuses on Albert Einstein’s “brilliant but directionless” great-grandson. Per the official logline, Lew “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 solve her most puzzling cases.”

Lew, we’re told, is a “popular professor at Princeton… when he actually shows up for class. Irreverent and misguided, Lew’s genius and famous name weighs heavily on him — but using his gift to help solve homicides may finally offer his life some direction and purpose.”

The original German series starred Tom Beck as Felix, the youngest professor to have ever taught theoretical physics at his university — and also the great-grandson of Al. Diagnosed with Huntington’s disease and facing prison when accused of stealing drugs to manage his condition, Felix is saved from jail when the police recognize that his brilliant mind could help them solve their most complex cases, as a consultant paired with quick-witted detective Elena (played by Annika Ernst).

This is CBS’ second stab at bringing Einstein to the States. In October 2020, Insatiable creator Lauren Gussis had pitched a gender-flipped series about an out-of-the-box thinking physics professor who happens to be Al’s secret, illegitimate great-granddaughter — and in addition to teaming with a Boston police detective to solve murders, her keen insight would be used to “address the problems ever-present inside the institution of policing itself.”

Prior to that, in 2018, NBC attempted a direct take on Germany’s Einstein via writer Michael Reisz (Shadowhunters).

Gubler is best known for his starring role as Dr. Spencer Reid on the original Criminal Minds, which ran for 15 seasons and ended in 2020. Two years later, the series was revived at Paramount+ with a new title — Criminal Minds: Evolution — and much of its Season 15 cast still intact. But through its first two seasons, Reid has not returned. Viewers were previously told that Reid was away “on assignment,” along with Matt (played by fellow MIA cast member Daniel Henney).

Our sister site Deadline was first to report the news of Gubler’s casting.

TVLine will keep you posted if/when Einstein receives a formal series order. In the meantime, hit the comments and let us know if you’re looking forward to Gubler’s potential return to CBS.

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