Perdita Weeks is looking back at her time on Magnum P.I. with great fondness now that the series has wrapped after five seasons.
The crime drama, which premiered in 2018 and ended Wednesday, January 3, featured Jay Hernandez stepping into the role of private investigator Thomas Magnum, the character previously made famous by Tom Selleck in the original ’80s series. Weeks starred as Juliette Higgins, a former MI6 agent who becomes Magnum’s partner before things turn romantic. The series also starred Zachary Knighton, Amy Hill, Betsey Phillips, Tim Kang and Stephen Hill.
Forming tight-knit bonds with her costars is one of the main things Weeks will remember the most — even if things started out a bit rocky at first. “Hanging with my best friends was quite fun, although we didn’t start off as best friends, obviously,” she tells Us. “I was like, ‘Who are these people?’”
“It was a little hiccup-y at the beginning,” adds the British actress, who is currently enjoying her time off in London. “I was just very English, and they’re very American, and [there] was a big cultural divide at first.”
Eventually, “I warmed up a bit,” she shares. “I sort of took the stick out from my behind, and we got along famously.”
Five years later, Weeks considers her colleagues to be some of her closest confidants. “I know these people incredibly well,” she continues. “Jay said, ‘You’ve spent more time with me than you have all of your other friends put together for the whole of your life.’ And I was like, ‘That’s true, because [filming takes] 15 hours a day for eight months of every year.’”
“We’re all super-duper close and there’s a lot of love,” she says. “I would be overjoyed to work with any of them again.”
Throughout the five seasons of Magnum P.I., Weeks’ character showed tremendous growth — something the actress takes great pride in. “I loved the way Higgins softened over the years,” the Tudors alum explains, “just from being so close to Magnum and his sweetness rubbing off on her, melting the glacial external shield that she had.”
“The love story was obviously Higgins’ major arc,” Weeks adds. “That whole dynamic — going from disdain to charmed to just full-blown in love with this person — was really fun to play.”
As Us Weekly previously reported, Hernandez revealed he “didn’t love” how Magnum P.I. ended, taking to X to express his disappointment after the finale aired January 3.
(l-r) Emily Alabi as Mahina, Stephen Hill as Theodore “TC” Calvin, Jay Hernandez as Thomas Magnum, Perdita Weeks as Juliet Higgins and Amy Hill as Teuila “Kumu” Tuileta Zack Dougan/NBC
Though it’s unclear why the actor — who also teased the possibility of a “standalone film” — was not pleased with the show’s conclusion, things were left open-ended between Higgins and Magnum. (Higgins spiraled over her future with Magnum after she found an engagement ring she wrongly believed was meant for her then told him she would say yes if he asked her to marry her.)
For her part, Weeks was satisfied with where the characters’ story ended — and hopes fans are pleased too. “It’s one form of an ending, two people falling in love and living happily ever after,” she says. “I think it was the best kind of bow that could have been put on the show to end it. It was sort of the circle completing.”
