The second half of Magnum P.I. Season 5 kicked off this fall as one of few scripted shows with new episodes in the 2023 TV schedule due to the SAG-AFTRA strike and WGA strike. This was good news for fans after NBC’s initial announcement that the show would return in midseason 2024, but there was some major bad news as well: Jay Hernandez’s show had been cancelled for the second time. Now, showrunner Eric Guggenheim has weighed in on whether a second rescue could be on the way.
Magnum P.I. originally aired on CBS before being cancelled after four seasons, and then was revived by NBC for Season 5 after a strong fan campaign. So, is there a chance that Jay Hernandez and Co. could portray their characters on a third network or platform? Speaking with TVLine, Eric Guggenheim shared:
To my knowledge, it is not currently being shopped. I don’t want to give false hope. Shows getting canceled and coming back, or getting picked up and then cancelled, has become such a normal occurrence in recent years. And obviously there have been countless revivals. So given all that, I think anything is possible. For now, though, I’m just hoping the fans really enjoy these 10 episodes, and that new viewers are able to discover the show.
While the showrunner didn’t definitively say that the Season 5 finale will absolutely be the end of Magnum P.I., the future doesn't seem too bright for Magnum, Higgins, and the rest of the found family. Guggenheim certainly has a point about how it’s a “normal occurrence” for shows to be cancelled and then saved nowadays, but being cancelled twice and then rescued twice isn’t exactly the norm.
The full series so far is currently streaming on two platforms, with the current fifth season so far available for those with Peacock Premium subscriptions and the first four seasons streaming on Freevee. It seems safe to say that Peacock isn’t going to revive the show that was just axed from NBC. Freevee seems like the more likely bet, but the showrunner’s comments suggest that fans shouldn’t get their hopes too high.
It’s worth noting that Eric Guggenheim previously previewed that the show isn’t going to end on a cliffhanger because he wanted to “play it safe.” There will evidently be some unresolved storylines, which leaves me wondering about the character who Jay Hernandez teased to CinemaBlend. The star previewed somebody who would be “causing [Magnum] a lot of problems for a number of episodes and even further… if we get picked up for the sixth season.”
It’s possible that the character was revealed (albeit not introduced in the flesh) in the most recent episode, when Magnum finally explained that he was sending money to the P.I. he worked with as a kid. For now, we can only wait and speculate for what the show has in store in its remaining seven episodes. The X account (formerly known as Twitter) of the Magnum P.I. writers has been showing support for the fan movement for a Season 6 rescue, including reposting messages like this:
It’s another Magnum PI Wednesday and we couldn’t be more excited for a new episode! So, @nbc and be sure to check out our tweeting and the trending section for #MagnumPI and #SaveMagnumPI. We should be on fire today because we love supporting this show! 🔥♥️ pic.twitter.com/xDnUomrSiROctober 18, 2023
For now, you can find new episodes of Magnum P.I.’s fifth and (currently) final season on Wednesdays at 9 p.m. ET on NBC, following new episodes of Quantum Leap and ahead of the latest One Chicago rerun. While there's no guarantee of a Season 6, some extra eyes watching live couldn't hurt!
