After being unceremoniously canceled in May, Magnum PI was saved and will now have two more seasons on the air.
The show was one of 14 shows that were canceled on the same day that US network CBS tightened its belt before the summer, but it has now been resurrected.
According to Deadline (opens in a new tab), the Universal NBC affiliate has taken over the show and ordered 20 new episodes, to be spread over two seasons, with the option to order more episodes. The show airs on Sky in the UK and on Binge and Foxtel Now in Australia.
The report adds that, in anticipation of the show's resurrection, CBS Studios, which is co-producing the series with Universal TV, did not extend the contractual options they had on the show's cast, leaving them free to re-sign.
Magnum PI is a remake of the 1980s Magnum, PI series (note the missing comma in the new show's title), starring Tom Selleck as Thomas Magnum, a former United States Navy officer and Vietnam war veteran who made a living. as a private detective.
Magnum had settled in Oahu, Hawaii, and was working as a private detective, while living in the guest house on a 200-acre beachfront property called Robin's Nest.
He lived in the house at the invitation of its owner, Robin Masters, a best-selling novelist, who was voiced by Orson Welles in the original series.
In the reboot, which began in 2018, former Hang Time and Suicide Squad star Jay Hernandez plays Magnum, who in this incarnation is a former Navy SEAL.
As with the original, Magnum is primarily employed as a security consultant for Masters and lives in the guest house on his estate, while also working as a private detective, with a new case to solve each week.
Now you'll have at least 20 more cases to solve, assuming some of them aren't two-parters...
Why was Magnum PI canceled in the first place?
The show's cancellation came as a surprise, as each of its four seasons proved popular with viewers, as evidenced by its status as the most-watched streaming series in the recent wave of US network cancellations.
On top of that, CBS, which is owned by Paramount, only had domestic rights to the show in the US, meaning the show would not go to Paramount's Paramount Plus streaming platform in the rest of the world.
With Paramount focused on growing its own platform, spending money to make a show it can't offer outside of the United States doesn't make much sense.
On top of that, shooting on location in Hawaii, while undoubtedly a very enjoyable experience for cast and crew, doesn't come cheap.
None of this will matter to Hernandez and his co-stars, they'll just be happy to get back to solving crimes in the hot Hawaiian sun.
In other cancellation news, Netflix is back...