It’s been less than a month since CBS shocked its audience base by cancelling the sun-soaked drama Magnum P.I. after four seasons, despite impressive and fairly steady ratings stats from year to year. The Magnum fandom sprang to action soon after the bad news went public, flooding social media with attempts to show other networks and streaming platforms how many people would follow the Jay Hernandez-starring crime drama if Season 5 happened elsewhere. Such efforts have culminated in the #SaveMagnumPI campaign taking over a digital billboard in the heart of Times Square, an impressive show of determination by all means. And not only did the billboard catch the eyes of Magnum P.I. stars, but its arrival also coincided with what could be a very positive update for those hoping Season 5 becomes a reality.
Before getting into that update, let’s first check out how a pair of the drama’s stars felt after seeing the #SaveMagnumPI billboard. Perdita Weeks, who portrays Juliet Higgins, shared a pic of the billboard on Twitter along with a surprised and thankful message to the fans who made it happen. In her words:
This is insane. Thanks to literally the best fans of all time I have never heard of such an effort. Stay tuned xxx
To Perdita Weeks’ point, while cancelled TV shows often spark some form of protest from those most disappointed in seeing them go away, the Magnum P.I. fandom is on a whole other level when it comes to size and scale. It’s basically on par with the endless For Your Consideration campaigns that networks are putting on to give their shows more Emmy love. But while I’m sure Magnum P.I.’s viewers would be fine enough with the show winning Emmys, another guaranteed season of episodes is what they’re truly after
Another star who’s clued in on the #SaveMagnumPI billboard in Times Square is Zach Knighton, who plays the show’s Rick Wright. He also shared a shot of the digital promotion on Twitter with the following message:
Wow absolutely stunned at the efforts of our fans. You guys are amazing and we hear you!
No word from Jay Hernandez as of yet, with some of his most recent posts still being his farewell messages following the cancellation, which received lots of love from fellow celebs and fans alike. But we can probably expect him to chime in soon, assuming he hasn't signed on for 3 more TV shows and his own Marvel film franchise by this point.
A Promising Season 5 Update
As far as potential good news goes, Magnum P.I.'s shouldn't put all of their hopes into this basket, but the latest issue of Production Weekly (via CarterMatt) features a whopper of a detail. The trusted publication rounds up just about everything that's on the verge of hitting next big stage of the development process, and among the many film and TV projects awaiting film starts, Production Weekly lists "Magnum P.I. Season 5" between Magazine Dreams — the bodybuilder drama that only days ago revealed Loki star Jonathan Majors will play a leading role — and Mahalia!
The still-unconfirmed Magnum P.I. Season 5 is listed as being in Active Development, which would be amazing if true. That said, no networks or streaming services were listed in the issue, so it's hard to tell whether or not how talks have gone with NBCUniversal, which was rumored to be interested in bringing the crime drama to either NBC or USA. I can't imagine that would be a bad way to drive up Peacock subscriptions, either, but I can understand the desire to keep Magnum P.I. on linear TV.
While there's obviously no clear sign of where things will go from here, seeing "Magnum P.I. Season 5" in print somewhere (that isn't a fansite) is as promising a sign as we could hope for. The best case scenario is that NBC will put in a three-season renewal order before I'm finished typing this sentence, but that probably won't happen. Considering Jason Lee still gets questioned by fans about My Name Is Earl’s cancellation, which happened back in 2009, this could be quite a long journey for Weeks, Knighton and other stars if nothing ends up coming through. I can't help but believe that something will, though!
