A Magnum P.I. reboot is in the works at CBS
Magnum P.I. is getting a reboot at CBS, according to THR. Peter Lenkov and Eric Guggenheim (reboots of Hawaii Five-0 and MacGyver) will reportedly write the script for the show, which has been given a pilot production commitment. The Magnum P.I. reboot will be executive produced by John Davis and John Fox (The Blacklist) through their David Entertainment banner. The show is a co-production between CBS Television Studios and Universal Television.
The reboot is said to be an update of the original show, which starred Tom Selleck. It will follow Thomas Magnum, who is an ex-Navy SEAL who has returned from Afghanistan and becomes a private investigator. He’ll take cases that no one else will touch with the help of veterans Theodore “TC” Calvin and Orville “Rick” Wright as well as former MI:6 agent Juliet Higgens. The show will also take on what it’s like to return home after a tour of duty.
The original series, which ran from 1980 to 1988, co-starred John Hillerman, Roger E. Mosley and Larry Manetti, and centered on the laid-back former Navy SEAL as he runs a PI firm out of the guest house of a gorgeous Hawaiian beachfront estate owned by the reclusive author Robin Masters. Created by Donald P. Bellisario and Glen A. Larson, Magnum P.I. famously cost Selleck the role of Indiana Jones due to his series commitment, though it won him an Emmy in 1984 and made him an ’80s icon.
ABC tried a sequel-style reboot of the show in 2016, which was produced by Eva Longoria and John Rogers (Leverage).
Universal was developing a film version of Magnum P.I. around 2008 with writer/director Rawson Marshall Thurber (Dodgeball, Central Intelligence), and they were courting Matthew McConaughey for the lead. The action movie take on the character is still a dream project for Thurber, who was still talking it up in interviews this summer.
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