Magnum P.I. Star Jay Hernandez Answers the Burning Question About Magnum and Juliet's Future

Part of the appeal of Magnum P.I. is it is a story about family, and in this instance not the family that you are born into, but rather the family you make. Magnum (Jay Hernandez), Rick (Zachary Knighton) and TC (Stephen Hill) may not have blood ties, but they have ties that bind from their days as POWs in Afghanistan.

There was a fourth member of their tight circle, Sebastian Nuzo (Domenick Lombardozzi), now deceased, and tonight's episode features a story  about him. Even though Nuzo is no longer among the living, Magnum goes to great lengths to uncover the truth about a crime that may have involved his deceased friend in order to protect his reputation.

It all starts when Detective Katsumoto (Tim Kang) comes across an audio file on the phone of a dead man that implicates Nuzo in a murder.

“Nuzo left a very threatening voicemail, and they can only deduce at that moment that Dom, because of what he said on the voicemail, is probably the one who killed a man,” Hernandez tells Parade.com in this exclusive interview. “So, Magnum spends the episode trying to prove his friend's innocence. In doing so, he is visited by this figment of his imagination that kind of assists him throughout the case.”

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What also makes the “Shallow Grave, Deep Water” episode of Magnum P.I. special is that series star Hernandez makes his directorial debut. Hernandez had expressed interest in directing an episode and executive producer EricGuggenheim came up with an idea for this story about Nuzo and decided it was the one that his star should direct because Hernandez and Lombardozzi have been friends for almost 20 years.

“Eric pitched this idea actually early in the season and he's like, ‘I don't know, it's going to fit somewhere near the end of the season. I'm not sure about it,' because it was an interesting conceit,” Hernandez said. “We hadn't done anything like that on the show prior. And so, he pitched the idea and I liked it. I was like, “Let's give it a shot, try something different. Maybe stretch out a little bit and get out of the comfort zone.”

The network came on board and gave both the idea and Hernandez the green light, so it was full speed ahead … until Hernandez was waylaid by COVID.

“There were a lot of challenges logistically because I'm in every scene and doing the prep for the episode as I was shooting an episode was pretty challenging,” he recalled. “We shot in the ocean, we shot in the open water … those are always difficult days. I ended up getting COVID in the middle of the shoot. So, there were a lot of complications. But I had a lot of fun doing it. I just didn't sleep for about a month.”

Keep reading as Hernandez talks more about the challenges of filming in Hawaii and gives his take on whether Magnum and Juliet (Perdita Weeks) should end up together.

At what point did you decide that you wanted to try your hand at directing?

Probably a couple of years ago. I've been thinking about it for some time, and I feel like I earned the right. I don't know if that's true, but I felt that way. I'm like, “Hey man, you guys have got to give me a shot. It’s something I want to do.”

I’m obviously taking it seriously. I did all my work and I know this show almost better than anybody. I've been doing it for four or five years now. I felt like I was in a good place to do it. I felt like the crew had my back, everybody stepped up and was working extra hard to make sure that the episode was going to look good, we'd get through our days on time, and the network and everybody would be happy. So, yeah, I think everybody rallied around me, which was great.

Magnum is this iconic character made famous by Tom Selleck. How does Magnum differ for 2022?

It's funny, I grew up with the show. I watched it as a kid. I loved it. It's interesting that somebody Latin American, a Hispanic guy, Mexican American, who grew up in Los Angeles, sort of layered into this character. Obviously, it's different from the original iconic character played by Tom. But I think there is some level of importance to it in terms of it being a counterbalance to some of the negative narratives that are out there regarding the Latin American community. I think it's cool that kids around this country and around the world have a slightly different version of what a hero can be. So, for me, stepping back and looking at it from that perspective, I think that is pretty important.

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And it's done subtly.

Yeah, it's subtle. I think the great thing about it and with a lot of characters that I play, I am who I am. It doesn't have to be exaggerated. It is easy to slide into that sometimes creatively. I see that happen a lot where you slide into stereotypes or things of that nature. And we never really did that on this show, so absolutely, it's great.

A lot of fans think that Magnum and Juliet should be an item, but don't you think that the show would jump the shark if the two of them got together? Isn’t that something that should be saved for the series finale?

Yeah. I've said from early on that the moment they end up officially together, I feel like that would be the end of the show. I think one of the interesting dynamics that keeps people coming back is that chemistry. So, them not becoming a couple, I think them fighting that chemistry is interesting. In losing that dynamic, I think the show would lose a lot.

Definitely. And also, maybe a man and a woman can just be friends.

That's a part of it, you know? It's an interesting line [to figure out]. It's funny because there is a certain part of the audience that really wants them to be together. And then there's a smaller audience that is like, “No, don't do that. That's terrible. You should never do that until the end of the show.” So, you want to keep people happy on both ends of that. You have to walk a line as a creative on the show writing and playing these moments. You have to find that balance. I think so far that we have. There are ways that they've built the story up to where there needs to be some sort of culmination of that, but I don't think they should be together ultimately.

You mentioned filming on the water for tonight’s episode, but there’s always a lot of action. Has there been anything that's been dangerous enough that you thought, “The stunt guy's got to do that.”

I like to do as much as I can, as much as they'll let me. The underwater stuff is always dangerous. Actually, I was in scuba gear, and I went down to the bottom, which is maybe like 50, 60 feet for this particular episode. So, anything can happen down there, you know? There's always the possibility of something going wrong. So, you have to really trust the people that you're going down there with. And you have to watch out for yourself.

As an actor, we are thrown in dangerous situations all the time. Whether it's fight choreography, whether it's being on top of a building, or driving a car at any speed, really you have to keep your wits about you. I don't have to repeat it, but bad things have happened on sets. Not only that, but there's like rigging, there's temporary structures that you're running around in, so yeah, it's inherently dangerous. I think as an actor, you have to be aware of that and always keep yourself safe.

It rains a lot in Hawaii, does that affect production?

There are definitely rain delays. There’s microclimates. So certain areas on the island, it's pretty constant. The rain is ever present, so it depends where you're shooting. Normally if it rains, it comes and it goes, so you might have to wait 10 minutes. We wait it out and then it goes away and it's so hot, all the water evaporates fairly quickly. So, you do have moments where the rain causes an issue, but generally, it's not that much of a problem.

We're getting close to finale time, which will be next month. What can you tease about what's coming up? Will there be a big cliffhanger this year?

Well, there's a couple of great things. There's a really great storyline with Katsumoto that's going to show the audience a different side of him, which is fun. It's fun for us and the audience. And it's fun for Tim to play. I was enjoying watching his character go through some of these things.

In addition to that, one of the things that we were discussing earlier about Magnum and Higgins, you're going to see a development. I'll just put it like that.

Magnum P.I. airs Friday nights at 9 p.m. ET/PT on CBS.

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