Much of the 2023 TV schedule has been drastically changed because of the strikes, but Magnum P.I. is one of the few scripted shows that had episodes to air this fall. The CBS-turned-NBC drama wrapped filming on its fifth season in the spring, and the back half of the season was bumped up from midseason to help fill the depleted primetime lineup. With the final episodes of the Jay Hernandez-led reboot currently airing, fans are likely concerned about being left with a cliffhanger that would never get solved. Luckily, that may not be anything to worry about.
There have been more than a few cliffhangers throughout Magnum P.I.’s five-season run, with some taking place in-season and some cropping up at seasons' conclusions. When NBC canceled Magnum, the cast and crew had already wrapped filming the final eps, obviously without the foreknowledge that those would close out these characters' stories. However, that doesn't mean the creative team left things off with any overarching mysteries or unresolved storylines, as showrunner Eric Guggenheim had this to say to TVLine:
I actually think it’s quite satisfying. I’m really proud of the finale. There are a couple of threads left dangling that would have been picked up in a Season 6, but I didn’t want to end on a cliffhanger. If I’m being honest, I guess I wanted to play it safe. Too many shows have gotten burned with cliffhangers.
Knowing that there won’t be a cliffhanger at the end of the finale will be able to give fans some breathing room. It’s always heartbreaking when a show gets canceled, though time has proven that fans' fond opinions for certain shows can sour if the ending was botched or left open-ended. It's certainly still sad to consider that Eric Guggenheim & Co. had the possibility of being canceled in the back of their minds while planning out the Magnum P.I. finale, so that they could make sure not to close things out in an unsatisfying way. But their efforts will hopefully be rewarded in the long run.
That said, by leaving a few dangling minor story threads, the showrunner made it that much easier for another network to step up and continue the Hawaii-set drama if it was so desired. Which probably won't happen, but it was fan fervor that sparked the NBC renewal in the first place, so nothing seems impossible.
Even without a cliffhanger, the episode still doesn't fully represent the ideal way Guggenheim would have wanted to plot out the show's swan song, and not being able to fully give Magnum, Higgins, and others proper endings has to be disappointing. But while such bow-tying endings aren't happening, the showrunner did have some good news about the upcoming episode:
Is it how I would choose to end the show? No. But if it has to be the last episode, I think it absolutely works as a [series] finale. So no, there’s no reason to go back and recut or reshoot.
Considering the season already had quite the cliffhanger when the team and Robin’s Nest got ambushed, it would be pretty harsh to put fans through yet another cliffhanger so soon, not to mention one that wouldn’t even get resolved. So as much as the Magnum P.I. cancellation bummed out the cast and crew, as well as the fanbase, the focus can now shift to celebrating the time left to be shared with these beloved characters, even if we still have questions that need to be answered in Magnum’s final episodes.
Tune in on Wednesdays at 9 p.m. ET on NBC to see what happens in these final episodes of Magnum P.I. Season 5 can also be streamed with a Peacock subscription.
