For years, fans of USA Network‘s Monk and Psych have hoped for some kind of crossover between the two shows. Aside from some TV spots created early in the lives of the popular shows, the characters have never appeared onscreen together, although the Psych team did acknowledge Monk’s existence in their series finale. Why is that? Well, because in the final season, Shawn Spencer and Burton Guster moved from Santa Barbara to San Francisco — the latter being the city where Monk takes place. Now that Adrian Monk is back in Mr. Monk’s Last Case: A Monk Movie, could there actually be room for a crossover?
We asked series creator Andy Breckman, and he said that he doesn’t know how it would work…but that’s he’s not willing to close that door, largely because he knows so many fans would love to see it happen. Fan expectations helped drive some of the decisions in Mr. Monk’s Last Case, and it seems that spirit could stay with the franchise going forward.
“I’m a huge fan of Psych,” Breckman told ComicBook.com. “I know a lot of people are asking about a crossover. It’s challenging because Monk, I always felt, exists in its own unique universe, and we play by our own unique rules. Psych comes very close in spirit, but it feels like it’s still a different world — but I will never say never. I know that we have fans that love both shows equally, and that means a lot to us.”
Breckman also knows about that series finale joke, and he loved it (even if it was evident during our conversation that nobody ever told Tony Shalhoub).
“They made a very generous, very funny joke about another investigator in San Francisco,” Breckman told Shalhoub.
Per the official synopsis, in Mr. Monk’s Last Case: A Monk Movie, Monk returns to solve one last, very personal case involving his beloved stepdaughter Molly, a journalist preparing for her wedding.
Based on the Emmy Award-winning, critically acclaimed, fan-favorite USA Network comedy from creator, writer, and executive producer Andy Breckman, director and EP Randy Zisk, EP David Hoberman and starring and executive produced by Tony Shalhoub (MONK, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel), the new MONK movie will reunite with original stars Ted Levine (On Becoming a God in Central Florida, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom), Traylor Howard (MONK, Boston Common), Jason Gray-Stanford (Percy Jackson and The Olympians, The Painter), Melora Hardin (The Office, Transparent) and Hector Elizondo (Pretty Woman, Chicago Hope).
Mr. Monk’s Last Case: A Monk Movie is now streaming on Peacock.