Magnum P.I. reboot switches up Higgins
New take on ’80s classic reinvents popular role as a female character
When Welsh actress Perdita Weeks first heard they were rebooting CBS’s Hawaiian procedural Magnum P.I., she wasn’t quite sure what part they were asking her to audition for.
“I was familiar with the series but, as far as I remembered, there was nothing for women as long as I could figure out,” says Weeks ( Ready Player One) in an interview at Toronto’s Bell Media headquarters on Queen St. “It was a buddy show and the only women were perhaps the love interests of that lothario Magnum.”
Weeks soon discovered that she was part of the most dramatic piece of recasting for the show, playing the part of Jonathan Quayle Higgins III, a role that won John Hillerman an Emmy Award.
“It was awesome when I got it. I knew there was a relationship between Higgins and Magnum and they butted heads all the time,” she says.
“But you turn one of those characters into a female and this completely changes the dynamic of the story.”
Eton-educated Higgins, as played by Hillerman with almost comical pomp, was a veteran of the British military and ran the palatial Hawaiian estate of Robin Masters, where Magnum resides.
The Hawaiian-shot detective procedural that made a star of Tom Selleck returns this time starring a charismatic Jay Hernandez ( Scandal, The Expanse), who takes the role of Thomas Magnum, giving it a Latin flair as a former Navy SEAL who returns home from Afghani- stan to become a private investigator.
The series originally ran from 1980 to 1988 on CBS in an era of hyped-up procedurals that gave viewers The A-Team and Knight Rider.
The new series debuts on CBS and CTV Monday at 9 p.m.
“There are a lot of similarities between Jonathan Higgins and Juliet Higgins: they’re both British, they both come from military backgrounds and they’re both control freaks,” says Weeks. “Everything Magnum does flies in the face of Higgins. But there is possibly an attraction at the same time between the two, so it makes it more interesting.”
While Hillerman, who died in 2017 at the age of 84, played a convincing British expatriate, he was actually born in Houston, Texas. Weeks, 32, was born in Cardiff and started her career on British television.
Her character, as a former British secret service agent, also features much more prominently in the reboot. And she anchors the action scenes in a way that would be inconceivable to imagine the stiff-upperlip Hillerman attempting. There is also palpable chemistry between Higgins and Magnum.
It’s directed by Fast and Furious helmer Justin Lin, who knows a thing or two about car chases. Magnum’s famous moustache is gone, replaced by Hernandez’s goatee, but the red Ferrari and aviator sunglasses are back. In fact, more than one red Ferrari is totalled in the premiere as Lin goes on an Italian sports car bashing streak that might be unprecedented for a TV series.
Returning characters include Magnum’s best friends TC Calvin (Stephen Hill) and Rick Wright (Zachary Knighton).
“The original Magnum was my favourite show as a kid,” says Knighton ( Happy Endings). “I would draw pictures of Hawaii and that Ferrari as a kid, and it was all from watching Magnum. And then this came up; it’s really a dream job.”
Hill, another Magnum fan as a child, said he used to buy Hawaiian short sleeve shirts as a kid growing up in Harlem.
“I had four or five of them. And when I got to Hawaii for the first time I realized that’s why I’m wearing these Hawaiian suits at 12 years old. It’s because of the influence of that show. Both Hawaii Five-0 and Magnum brought so much tourism and magic to that place you can’t understate the impact.”
Both actors had gigs on other shows that they turned down for the opportunity to work on Magnum.
“I got an offer for another CBS show, but I reached out and said I’d rather do Magnum. I’m a surfer and this is Magnum and Hawaii,” says Knighton.
“I had booked an NBC pilot for Manifest and was supposed to play a co-pilot when my agent called and said, ‘Pack your bags, you’ve got a plane to catch,’ ” says Hill.
“I think Hawaii really informs everything we do,” says Weeks. “Apart from the fact we’re shooting in this beautiful place, there is a fair amount of pressure here for everyone, including me, where you’re playing a part that is very different to what people are expecting. It’s a new journey for everyone, including the viewers.”