‘MAGNUM’ 2018
Blast from the past, but in an updated form
Jay Hernandez knows he’s not Tom Selleck. So he won’t try to be.
The 40-year-old actor has been tasked to lead the reboot of “Magnum P.I.,” complete with fast cars and wild helicopter chases. It’s a tough challenge; Selleck so cemented the original role from the series, which ran from 1980 to 1988, that trying to duplicate the character would be a disappointment waiting to happen.
So Hernandez made the role his own — starting with shaving off the mustache.
“It’s not 1978,” Hernandez, known best for starring opposite Kirsten Dunst in “Crazy/ Beautiful,” told the Daily News. “Tom Selleck brought the mustache to the character. It worked and it was brilliant. Anybody who tried to come in and do that was going to try to replace Tom Selleck. You can’t replace him. He owned the character. He nailed the character.”
Critics have only been provided with the pilot for the reboot, but it’s about what you’d expect: lots of explosions, lots of stunts, lots of snappy dialogue. Hawaii — the show is shot on the islands for authenticity — is beautiful. “Magnum P.I.” never had to be more than that.
“Magnum’s” band of former military veterans holds steady, too, this time played by Stephen Hill and Zachary Knighton. For executive producer Peter Lenkov, that was vitally important.
“Magnum” was always an uplifting story about soldiers returning home, repurposing their skills, making a positive contribution. “They’re still serving, just not in uniform,” Lenkov told The News. “We’re trying to keep the essence, the spirit of that original show, but we’re also trying to introduce these characters as new versions of what you remember.”
Hernandez, too, said he wanted to honor vets, including his brother, who just retired after 22 years in the military.
The other major difference in the reboot, just as obvious as the mustache, comes in the form of Perdita Weeks, who takes on the role of Juliet Higgins, the previously male property manager played by John Hillerman in the original show. Weeks breaks up the overwhelming boys club, a necessary task in 2018. But she also brings a strong, powerful character to a cast of brute strength.
Casting a Hispanic lead in a TV landscape with so few Hispanic leads, and even fewer male Hispanic leads, sends a message.
“I think it’s very important for people of color, representing another group outside of what we commonly see, as the lead. It’s important just truly having that representation,” Hernandez told The News. “In political moments like we find ourselves in right now, there’s a lot of rhetoric, lot of lies being perpetrated about certain groups. People hear that. They turn on the TV and they hear the words being used, even by the President of the United States. It weighs on people’s psyches. One of the things that I feel is very important is to have another idea of what that group can be, some positive imagery.”
The climate has changed since “Magnum P.I.” left the air in 1988, but the reboot sticks to what it knows best. The blow’ em-up, chase-’em-down adventures dominate the pilot and that’s fine, because that’s what it’s supposed to be. Anything more, any political or social messages, are a free lobster dinner on top of an all-expenses-paid vacation to Hawaii.