Here's what happened: Mr. Monk just returned to solve his final murder mystery.
Tony Shalhoub is reprising his Emmy-winning role as San Francisco detective Adrian Monk in Mr. Monk's Last Case: A Monk Movie, with fans getting a first look in the official trailer Nov. 8.
More than 20 years after the TV show premiered on USA Network, the Marvelous Mrs. Maisel actor reunited with castmates Ted Levine (Police Captain Leland Stottlemeyer), Jason Gray-Stanford (Lieutenant Randy Disher), Traylor Howard (assistant Natalie Teeger), Melora Hardin (Trudy Monk) and Hector Elizondo (Dr. Neven Bell) for the 90-minute film, streaming on Peacock on Dec. 8.
These days, Monk still holds some of his top fears, saying in the trailer that he has "traumatic symptoms" and an "unprecedented psychiatric history," referring to his diagnosis of obsessive-compulsive disorder following the death of his wife Trudy.
As Randy put it in the trailer, "He's afraid of heights—it's his second-biggest fear after germs," before Natalie corrected him: "It goes germs, needles, birds, then heights."
And you don't need to be a sleuth to know the global pandemic was his worst nightmare. As Monk recalled, "When COVID hit, I was in bad shape."
But when everyone became more germ-conscious, he fit in perfectly, as the trailer teased in a scene of people applying hand sanitizer. "Everybody's you," quipped newcomer Caitlin McGee, before the detective groaned, "They're gonna hate it."
Yet, nothing is stopping him from putting the pieces together on his final case. "It's like riding a bicycle," he remarked of going back to work. "I mean, it's terrifying."
Per the synopsis, "Monk returns to solve one last, very personal case involving his beloved stepdaughter Molly, a journalist preparing for her wedding."
For those wanting to go back into the jungle out there, Mr. Monk's Last Case: A Monk Movie hits Peacock Dec. 8.
(E! and Peacock are both part of the NBCUniversal family.)