Magnum Mania! Banner



News

Magnum Mania! Logo
 

New Magnum P.I. logo 
CBS has ordered the Magnum P.I. reboot to series!
5/17/2018 - CBS has officially added the Magnum P.I. reboot to its Fall 2018 lineup! The show is slotted to air Mondays at 9:00PM. Pilot episode air date TBD. The original order will more than likely be for 13 episodes, but nothing is official yet. This will mean five reboots will air on CBS next year: Magnum P.I., Hawaii Five-O, MacGyver, SWAT and Murphy Brown! The first trailer for the show was released on May 16th. It can be viewed here! No moustache and no comma can be found, but the Team Ring, the watch, the 308, the chopper, and Coops beer are! :) Jay Hernandez, Zachary Knighton, Perdita Weeks, and Stephen Hill discuss their “Magnum P.I.” reboot. #magnumpi. Screen cap of the new Robin Masters estate here.


Pahonu 
Pahonu (aka Robin's Nest) torn down!
4/14/2018 - Sad news for Magnum P.I. fans this week. The building structures of Pahonu, the property in Waimanalo that was used as the exterior filming location for Robin's Nest (and used in nearly every episode), have been torn down to make way for a new, unknown development project. The demolition occured without any kind of historic preservation review, which wasn't required because of a 2015 state law change that excluded privately-owned, single-family detached dwelling units from historic preservation review unless they are "listed on the state or national registers; nominated for the register; or located in a historic district." The estate was purchased by Marty Nesbitt (close friend of Barack Obama) in 2015 for $8.7 million. The City & County of Honolulu Department of Planning and Permitting (DPP) issued the demolition permit last week. The 8,900 square feet Spanish Colonial Revival-style main house was built in 1933 and was designed by architect Louis Davis, who was a prominent architect of the 1920's and 30's. The future plans for the property are currently unknown. Here's an aerial view of the destruction. :(


Magnum P.I. reboot call sheet 
Magnum P.I. reboot pilot has started filming!
3/22/2018 - The Magnum P.I. reboot pilot has started filming this week in Oahu. Justin Lin is directing and the script was written by Peter Lenkov and Eric Guggenheim. The pilot episode is titled, "I Saw The Sun Rise". They've also announced the casting decisions for Higgins (one Ms. Juliet Higgins!), Rick and Theodore "T.C." Calvin. Juliet Higgins will be played by British actress Perdita Weeks. Rick will be played by Zachary Knighton (from the ABC comedy series Happy Endings and FlashForward) and T.C. by Stephen Hill. It's also been confirmed that Robin's Nest will NOT be filmed at Pahonu in the original location in Waimanalo. The new estate is located at 51 Kaikea Place in Kailua! This is sad news, as Pahonu was an outright "character" in and of itself, and a huge part of the appeal of the original show. I'm sure they tried to get use of the property, but it just didn't work out. :(

For more updates on the progress of the reboot, check out Peter Lenkov's Twitter page.



Jay Hernandez 
CBS orders pilot for Magnum P.I. reboot!
2/23/2018 - CBS has ordered a pilot for a Magnum P.I. reboot that will be helmed by Hawaii Five-O's writer/producer Peter Lenkov. Jay Hernandez (Friday Night Lights, Hostel, Bad Moms, Suicide Squad) has been tapped to play the title role of Thomas Magnum. The pilot, from Peter Lenkov, Davis Entertainment, CBS TV Studios and Universal TV Studios, was co-written by Lenkov and Eric Guggenheim, with Justin Lin (The Fast and the Furious movies, Star Trek Beyond) set to direct. The reboot follows Thomas Magnum (Jay Hernandez), a decorated ex-Navy SEAL who, upon returning home from Afghanistan, repurposes his military skills to become a private investigator on the Hawaiian island of Oahu. Early reports say that the show will feature a "disavowed former MI6 agent named Juliet Higgins", which seems to imply that the original character of Jonathan Higgins (played so brilliantly by John Hillerman) will not appear in the reboot.No other casting decisions (Rick, T.C.) have been made at this time.



Jonathan Higgins (John Hillerman) 
John Hillerman passes away at the age of 84!
11/26/2017 - It is with great sadness that we share the news of the passing of John Hillerman on November 9th. As Jonathon Quayle Higgins III (aka "Higgy Baby") he was easily the second most important character, if not #1A, of the series. Mr. Hillerman’s portrayal of the majordomo of Robin’s Nest was nuanced, complicated and brilliant. While often viewed as adversarial towards Magnum, and rightfully so, it was never as a one-dimensional nemesis. The shared military background and experiences of the two men was a constant tether. Initially reflected in the disappointment Higgins has towards Thomas’ “less than disciplined” lifestyle, it later becomes a means of understanding and relating to each other. In time Higgins fills a certain father figure position for Thomas, whose own father was shot down in the Korean war when he was a child, while also becoming, if not exactly a mentor, a friend to Rick and T.C.

For we “Maniacs” of the show, the stories of his exploits at Sandhurst, as Sergeant Major (in the Queens Own West Yorkshire Regiment) in the British Army and working for MI6 were something we looked forward to. We went along with the ride, we chuckled at some absurdity or were moved by tragedy. Hillerman pulled off each effortlessly.

There is more to say about Mr. Hillerman’s career – from Ellery Queen, One Day at a Time and The Betty White Show to Chinatown, Blazing Saddles and A Very Brady Sequel, but that’s for others to cover. Here, at Magnum Mania! we honor the man for the life he breathed into a character and show we enjoy so much, and hope he very much enjoyed his retirement back home in Texas. Rest in peace, John Hillerman. You will always be remembered!



News Archive