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Tony Shalhoub on reprising famed Monk role: ‘I would certainly be open to it’

By Graham GSM Matthews

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - JANUARY 19: Tony Shalhoub poses in the press room with the trophies for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series and Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series for "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel" during the 26th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards at The Shrine Auditorium on January 19, 2020 in Los Angeles, California. 721430 (Photo by Gregg DeGuire/Getty Images for Turner)
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - JANUARY 19: Tony Shalhoub poses in the press room with the trophies for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series and Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series for "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel" during the 26th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards at The Shrine Auditorium on January 19, 2020 in Los Angeles, California. 721430 (Photo by Gregg DeGuire/Getty Images for Turner) /
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It was 20 years ago this week that Monk, one of the highest-rated scripted drama shows of all-time, aired its very first episode on USA Network.

The critically-acclaimed series that combined comedy with mystery followed an ex-police-officer-turned-detective with obsessive compulsive disorder named Adrian Monk, portrayed by the incredibly-gifted Tony Shalhoub. It ran from 2002 through 2009 with its series finale breaking the record for the most-watched scripted drama episode up to that point with 9.4 million viewers.

All of the actors involved in Monk moved on to various projects, most notably with Shalhoub being cast as Abe Weissman in the highly-successful Marvelous Ms. Maisel on Amazon Prime. Since the conclusion of the series, there hasn’t been an on-screen reunion outside of a five-minute YouTube sketch with most of the characters reprising their roles early on in the pandemic.

Interview with Tony Shalhoub on Monk and Marvelous Ms. Maisel

Speaking to Hidden Remote, Shalhoub revealed there have been talks about bringing back the beloved character, specifically in the form of a “one-off TV movie,” likely for Peacock.

“I would certainly be open to it,” he said. “There have been discussions about reprising that role, not with a series but with a one-off TV movie. That’s in discussion. It would have to be in a hiatus period from Maisel, of course, but oh my god, yeah, I never want to say never.”

Before finding fame on Monk, Shalhoub was best known for his work on Wings as well as his many appearances on the silver screen. It was actually on the stage where he first honed his craft and to this day he can still be seen on Broadway.

Shalhoub discussed the distinct difference between filming for a television show and performing in front of a full crowd, noting that he enjoys both for different reasons and that there’s a ton of trust that goes into acting on shows such as Monk and Marvelous Ms. Maisel.

“When do stage work, it’s the immediacy of a live audience and also that whole notion of, ‘This moment didn’t quite work for me tonight, but I’ll attack it again tomorrow night,'” he said. “Whereas with [Marvelous Ms. Maisel and Monk], we live on a leap of faith with what we’re doing. Not just faith but trust. Trust in our directors, trust in our editors, trust in our cinematographers, trust in our fellow actors. We may not get that feeling it’s going to work, but we trust that we’re being taken care of by our collaborators.”

There was plenty of excitement leading into the fourth season of Marvelous Ms. Maisel, which premiered in February after a near-three-year hiatus due to the pandemic. Between all the cliffhangers and the developments with Shalhoub’s character Abe Weissman, it delivered.

In addition to being happy with how the season came out and how it was perceived by fans, Shalhoub looks forward to filming what has been confirmed to be the fifth and final season of the show, presumably due out sometime in 2023.

“For us, just beginning to shoot Season 4, we had about a 14-month hiatus due to COVID,” he said. “We were just anxious to get back to the material and to get back together as a cast because it’s such a tightly-knit crew. We really hit the ground running after all that downtime, and for the viewers, it was an even longer stretch, we hoped they went into it with the same enthusiasm and excitement that we did when we came together as a cast.”

Stream Monk any time on Peacock and Marvelous Ms. Maisel on Prime Video.

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