EXCLUSIVE: Big news for Criminal Minds fans — one of the long-running series’ most popular stars, Matthew Gray Gubler, is returning to television as the lead of another CBS crime procedural, Einstein (working title).

Gubler is set to play the title role and produce the CBS Studios pilot, from the Monk team of creator/executive producer Andy Breckman and director/executive producer Randy Zisk. Like Monk, as well as the German series on which Einstein is based, the CBS procedural is a drama with comedic undertones.

In it, brilliant but directionless, the great grandson of Albert Einstein (Gubler) 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.

Gubler’s Lew Einstein 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.

While very different as personalities, Lew Einstein shares scientific background with Gubler’s beloved Criminal Minds character Spencer Reid, who also is a genius and holds Ph.D.s in Mathematics, Chemistry and Engineering.

Breckman, who wrote the Einstein pilot, and Zisk, who will direct it, executive produce alongside Intrigue’s Tariq Jalil; and Rose Hughes, Rodrigo Herrera Ibarguengoytia and Laura Beetz for Seven One Studios International. Gubler is a producer.

Einstein brings Gubler back to television, reuniting him with CBS and CBS Studios. He landed Criminal Minds soon after graduating from college in his first TV role. His character quickly became a fan favorite with his analytical skills, his eccentricities — and his ever-changing hair. Along with A.J. Cook, Gubler was the only full-time original cast member to stay for Criminal Minds‘ entire 15-season run, which ended in 2020 — starring and also directing 12 episodes.

Much to fans’ disappointment, Gubler was the only longtime Criminal Minds cast member from the series’ final season on CBS who did not return for the 2022 sequel, Criminal Minds: Evolution, on Paramount+. Both Gubler and showrunner Erica Messer have said in interviews that they’ve tried to make it happen but the scheduling never worked out.

With Einstein bringing Gubler back in the fold of CBS Studios, which co-produces Criminal Minds, synching up schedules may be easier should Einstein go to series and Evolution get renewed for a third season.

This marks Gubler’s first TV role since his recurring stint on the Hulu comedy series Dollface, which he took on as Criminal Minds was coming to an end. He also is a children’s book author and illustrator, with his second book, The Little Kid with the Big Green Hand, published last year.