Geoffrey Rush Will Play Albert Einstein for Nat Geo's First Scripted Drama

We're that much closer to every channel on your cable guide getting into the original scripted series game now that National Geographic Channel is giving it a go. The network, mostly known for its docudramas about men catching fish or hermits preparing for the end of the world, has ordered the drama Genius, and it already has plenty of famous names connected to it, according to Deadline.

Oscar-winner Geoffrey Rush will play renowned physicist Albert Einstein in Genius, a 10-episode series that's being shopped as an anthology should further seasons be ordered. Ron Howard, who also has little gold men statue of his own, is on board to direct the first episode.

Genius will follow Einstein's rise to fame from a patent clerk who couldn't get a teaching job to one of the most decorated intellectuals in history, and will be based on Walter Isaacson's novel Einstein: His Life and Universe. Actor Johnny Flynn -- not Yahoo Serious -- will play young Einstein, and Rush will don one of the most recognizable hairstyles in physics to play the older Einstein.

National Geographic has not yet announced a premiere date for Genius.