The first half of Magnum P.I.’s fifth season came to an action-packed ending with the midseason finale that involved some tough realizations for Magnum himself ahead of new problems for when the show returns. Originally, Magnum P.I. was rescued by NBC for a fifth and sixth season after being cancelled by CBS, but that has since changed into one longer Season 5. For now, there’s no confirmation of whether or not a Season 6 will happen, and star Jay Hernandez recently spoke with CinemaBlend about the future of the series and the 100-episode milestone that it’s approaching.
As of the spring finale on April 23, a total of 86 episodes of Magnum P.I. have aired. When speaking about the spring finale, Jay Hernandez acknowledged that he’d “shot almost a hundred episodes of television” thanks to the show. When I noted to the actor/director that the show would be very close to hitting 100 episodes by the end of Season 5, he shared:
I think it's either 96 or 98. I'm not sure, to be honest. COVID robbed us of a little bit, I think, but we're almost there. I think we'll get there, and it'll be pretty exciting because it's such a rare thing to happen, period, especially now with the way the industry is shifting and just the types of content that people are creating. To get to that 100-episode mark is a feat, and it's something that all of us – from the crew members to the writers to the actors [to] the producers – should be proud of. I can't wait to cross that mark.
It’s too soon to say if NBC will officially give the order for a Season 6 that would give Magnum P.I. enough episodes to hit 100, but Jay Hernandez at least seems optimistic! As he noted, running long enough to reach that milestone isn’t something that every show manages, let alone one that had to deal with COVID production challenges and then survive a cancellation from its original network.
It’s worth noting that NBC renewed all of its other ongoing dramas for the 2023-2024 TV season (with the three Law & Order and three One Chicago shows in one swoop), so there’s certainly no recent trend of the network cancelling its dramas en masse. Official news about whether or not Season 6 happens just may be a ways off, with half of Season 5 still to go.
That said, Jay Hernandez shared an idea for a specific kind of episode that could happen if Magnum P.I. returns for Season 6. When speaking to the action sequences of the show, he noted that he loves doing the flashbacks and “it’s so much fun to shoot” scenes that feel “a little different than the, quote unquote, case of the week.” The actor continued:
In terms of story, [flashbacks] just further fill out the character for the audience, and not just Magnum, but T.C., Rick, even Nuzo. Knowing their backstory and knowing these characters more intimately ultimately builds that bond even stronger with the audience. I think that kind of stuff is important to service, and like I said, it's really fun to shoot. There's an idea of doing a whole flashback mission for one of the episodes next season. Hopefully we'll get the opportunity to do it, and I might even get the opportunity to direct it. We'll see what happens, but I really enjoy, as do Zach and Stephen, going back into that territory.
If a sixth season of Magnum P.I. happens to take Magnum, Higgins, and the rest to that 100-episode milestone, then fans could be in for an episode made up entirely of a flashback. The flashes to the past have been part of the series from the start, and featured in the spring finale in some key ways to explain why Rick was kidnapped while T.C. and Magnum were targeted for assassination.
So, Season 6 could deliver a flashback episode that would bring Jay Hernandez back as a director after his latest turn behind the camera for a trippy Higgins episode, but what about another reenactment of a scene from one of Robin Masters’ books? I posed that question to the star, who laughed and replied:
They're so ridiculous! When I get the script, it's like, 'Are we really doing this? Okay!' [laughs] As long as we all commit, I'm down. They're fun. They're funny. I think it's a way to sort of be playful... You shoot almost a hundred episodes, you got to find new ways to bring some fresh kind of story and have fun with the audience because you never want the show or the characters or storylines to get stale.
Thomas Magnum is presumably never going to parachute from outer space even if the show runs for much longer than Jay Hernandez previously indicated, but it’s hard to rule out much of anything if Magnum P.I. revisits the adventures of the White Knight! Whether or not fans see another reenactment of a Robin Masters book from the cast of the show, Hernandez once again touched on the fact that the show has almost hit 100 episodes.
For now, fans can always revisit the first half of Magnum P.I. Season 5 streaming with a Peacock Premium subscription during the wait for the show to return. In the meantime, there are also plenty of other shows on the way in our 2023 TV premiere schedule.
