Author: Danielle Turchiano / Source: Variety
The CBS reboot of “Magnum PI” premiering in September features a Latino leading man in as the titular character, but his ethnicity won’t be the focus of the show.
“We’re certainly not denying the fact that he’s Latino. It is something that is acknowledged, and we plan to acknowledge it throughout the series,” executive producer Eric Guggenheim said at the Television Critics Assn. press tour panel for the show Sunday.
However, executive producer Peter Lenkov admitted that although he considers their writers’ room “very diverse,” they don’t have any Latinx writers because “it’s incredibly hard to find writers.” The gender breakdown of the writers’ room, Guggenheim said, was closer to parity, with four men and three women.
Lenkov said the reboot has the “spirit” of the original 1980s series that starred Tom Selleck, most notably through the “charm” of the titular character.
“Thomas Magnum lived off of his charm — off of the good graces of his friends giving favors. He was also somebody who didn’t use a gun [and] was the underdog in most of the situations he went into,” Lenkov said, of elements they kept. “We didn’t want to do a clone of Tom Selleck, we just wanted to find the essence of what he brought to that character, which was charm.”
Lenkov said they found that in Hernandez, and both men are excited to bring the story to a new, more modern audience.
“We’re going to do things that are going to satisfy [the original audience] — make them happy. We’re doing…
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