CBS's Crime Show Adaptation Stuck In Development Hell For 7 Years Officially Defies All Odds

Published Oct 15, 2026, 8:15 AM EDT

Zach Moser has been writing for ScreenRant since 2022, covering movies, classic TV, and streaming TV. His areas of expertise cover a wide range of genres with a particular interest in horror and drama, and the conversations around the TV and film industry. When he's not covering the latest film releases or chronicling the latest season of a new show, he's writing humor pieces for McSweeney's Internet Tendency, Slackjaw, and Points In Case or working on short stories and his second novel. 

After seven years of development hell, a long-awaited crime show adaptation has finally found a home on CBS, confirmed at NYCC 2026. The appropriately titled "development hell" that shows can go through is a frustrating experience for showrunners and for the fans eagerly awaiting a series that may have been teased years earlier.

There are a variety of reasons why a series can take so long to get made, and network television magnifies those issues. On streaming, scheduling and airdates and time blocks aren't really a thing. You can just make a show and put it in your library whenever you want. On network TV, a lot more has to be considered.

Some shows never make it out of development hell, languishing in whatever Circle Dante assigned to schedule conflicters, but when a show does emerge from it, it's an even more impressive feat that it has arrived. Einstein has been in the works at CBS since 2019, and in 2026, it will finally make its way to air.

Einstein is a 2026 police procedural adapted from the German series of the same name from 2017, itself based on the 2015 German film. The German series follows the great-great-grandson of Albert Einstein, a genius in his own right who is suffering from Huntington's chorea, giving him about seven more years of life.

After being found guilty of unauthorized amphetamine use, Felix Winterberg (Tom Beck) is commissioned to consult with the local police department to avoid jail time. The American Einstein follows Princeton Professor Lewis Einstein (Matthew Gray Gubler), who has lost a "great" in his relationship to Albert, and also lost Felix's Huntington's chorea.

Lewis' problems with the law come from his reckless behavior. After one particularly bad incident, Lewis is enlisted to help local detective Teri London (Melissa Fumero) solve complex homicide cases to avoid prison time. It's been a long journey to get Einstein across the Atlantic, but the wait is over as of 2026.

Einstein Is Officially Happening After Years Of Production Woes

The first time an Einstein adaptation was pitched was back in 2018 when Tariq Jahil shopped the series to NBC, a plan which ultimately fell through (via Deadline). In 2019, the project moved to CBS with Andy Breckman set to write and Randy Zisk to direct (via Deadline). Another year passed, and in 2020, it was announced that the new series would be a gender-swapped version of the original, now with Lauren Gussis serving as writer, an idea that would eventually be dropped (via TVLine).

Then the series entered the true depths of development hell, with little to no updates for four years. Finally, in 2024, it was announced that the series was being re-developed for CBS, with Breckman and Zisk returning (via Deadline). A pilot was ordered by CBS in August 2024 (via Deadline​​​​​​).

It took until April 2025 for CBS to greenlight the show, and in the interim, Rosa Salazar, originally cast as the detective opposite Lewis, backed out, soon to be replaced by Melissa Fumero (via Deadline). All this was followed by one more delay, pushing the series to the 2026-2027 schedule. In October 2026, at NYCC, CBS and the cast of Einstein previewed the series for attendees, virtually guaranteeing the show would finally go to air (via BleedingCool).

What Separates Einstein From The Rest Of Its Police Procedural Peers

That's quite a long journey for studio execs to go on with Einstein, so there's clearly something special about the property. The original German series ran for three seasons and was a hit in multiple countries. CBS was likely confident that the show being a hit before meant that it could be a hit again. Signing on for an idea that's already proved marketable is a far safer bet than signing up for a long production on a completely original show. Einstein has a very solid conceit, and everyone seems to know it.