Genius (2017 TV series)



Genius is an American anthology period drama television series produced by National Geographic, developed by James Hawes, Minkie Spiro and Ron Howard, which is set to premiere on April 25, 2017. The first season will consist of ten episodes, and follows the life of Albert Einstein, from his early years as a patent clerk, to his later years as a physicist who developed the theory of relativity. The season is based on the 2007 book Einstein, His Life and Universe by Walter Isaacson.

On April 19, 2017, National Geographic renewed the series for a second season, while also announcing that its subject will be revealed during the finale of the first season.

Synopsis
The first season focuses on theoretical physicist Albert Einstein during different periods in his life in a nonlinear narrative; as a patent clerk struggling to gain a teaching job and doctorate in his early life, and as an older respected mind for his development of the theory of relativity. Geoffrey Rush and Johnny Flynn star as the old and young Einstein, respectively.

Main

 * Geoffrey Rush as Albert Einstein
 * Johnny Flynn as Young Albert Einstein
 * Nicholas Rowe as Jost Winteler
 * Samantha Colley as Mileva Maric
 * Jon Fletcher as Marcel Grossmann
 * Richard Topol as Fritz Haber
 * Alicia von Rittberg as Anna Winteler

Recurring

 * Silvina Buchbauer as Katharina Lenard
 * Gwendolyn Ellis as Young Elsa Einstein
 * T.R. Knight as J. Edgar Hoover
 * Helen Monks as Maja Einstein
 * Lucy Russell as Frau Pauline Winteler
 * Shannon Tarbet as Marie Winteler
 * George Webster as Julius Winteler
 * Emily Watson as Elsa Einstein
 * Michael McElhatton as Philipp Lenard
 * Joshua Akehurst as Teenage Hans Albert
 * Lucy Chappell as Rosa Winteler
 * Nancy Crane as Eleanor Roosevelt
 * Nikola Djuricko as Leo Szilard
 * Lucy Farrett as Margot Einstein
 * Taylor Frost as Paul Winteler
 * Seth Gabel as Michele Besso
 * Edan Hayhurst as Hans Albert
 * Joshua Hogan as Mathias Winteler
 * Klára Issová as Marie Curie
 * Simon Kunz as Haller
 * Thomas Morris as Ernst
 * Eugene Simon as Eduard Einstein
 * Zita Téby as Ilse Einstein

Critical reception
Science columnist Dennis Overbye of The New York Times described the series as a "tense binge-worthy psychological thriller full of political and romantic melodrama." Overbye further noted that Einstein himself, writing to his sister, wrote, "If everybody lived a life like mine, there would be no need for novels." According to Hillary Busis of Vanity Fair, the film shows, "... Einstein at work ... peers into the über-genius’s tumultuous love life (monogamy, he believes, is “not natural”) ... his fraught emigration to the United States ...". Busis quotes producer Ron Howard: “When you move past his scientific contributions, Albert’s life story—what his youth was like, who his friends were, who his enemies were, his tumultuous love life—is a story people don’t know ... I think audiences are going to be riveted as we tell this ambitious and revealing human story behind Einstein’s scientific brilliance.”