CBS punts Einstein, losing star Rosa Salazar in the process

Salazar would have starred in the series with Matthew Gray Gubler, who's playing Einstein's genius crime-solving great-grandson. No, really!

By William Hughes  |  May 2, 2025 | 12:18am
Rosa Salazar, Photo: Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic
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CBS punts Einstein, losing star Rosa Salazar in the process
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Bad news for anyone who, like us, has become mildly obsessed with new CBS procedural Einstein, the TV show with the premise “Albert Einstein’s genius-slacker great-grandson is forced to help the police solve crimes and no we’re not making that up”: The series, which had just been ordered to series, has now been punted off of the network’s 2025 schedule, and will now presumably premiere some time in 2026. In addition to depriving us of a whole year of gags where star Matthew Gray Gubler sees that one Einstein-with-his-tongue-out poster hanging on a dorm room wall and makes a fun little smirk, the move also means the series is losing its co-star: Alita: Battle Angel and Undone‘s Rosa Salazar.

Per Variety, Salazar asked to be released from her contract after the delay was announced—which came, in turn, just days after the series (which reunites Criminal Minds‘ Gubler with his former network home) was picked up to series. The delay apparently has less to do with a lack of confidence in the series, than in CBS trying to take a slightly less rushed approach to developing new shows: Better to have the series on the backburner and ready to go in case something falls through (or, say, the whole industry goes on strike again), rather than shove it into an already packed schedule.

After all, this project has been in the works for a bizarrely long time: Einstein is based on a German TV movie from 2015 that then spawned a three-season TV show in international markets; NBC took a swing at the idea in 2018, and CBS is actually on its third attempted version. (Both the first one, and this most recent one, spearheaded by Monk creator Andy Breckman.) So they’ve presumably got time on their hands, even if Salazar doesn’t. She was reportedly set to co-star in the series as the cop forced to hang out and solve cases with “Lewis Einstein,” who’s “irreverent and misguided” but damn it, he gets results. (We assume.) Salazar asked to be released from her option after the delay was revealed, and all parties are honoring her wishes.

 
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