Steven Spielberg and George Lucas desired Tom Selleck to play Indiana Jones. Nonetheless, a television pilot he ‘d already striven CBS hindered.
That program was Magnum, P.I , which ran on CBS from 1980 to 1988, per AP.
Selleck played Thomas Magnum, a Vietnam veteran transformed Hawaii private eye. The duty of Indiana Jones mosted likely to Harrison Ford instead.
Selleck reflected on that period in his 2024 memoir, You Never ever Know He summarized his overview to AP’s Mark Kennedy.
“I’m most proud that I, as an individual, was willing to take risks,” he said. “They really did not always settle, yet lot of times they did,” he claims. “Danger is the price you pay for opportunity itself.”
Turns out, shedding Indiana Jones boiled down to a contract.
Why CBS Would Not Let Tom Selleck Play Indiana Jones
By 1980, Selleck had 6 fell short TV pilots behind him. He reviewed those lean years to AP:
“I intended to speak the language of our organization to young stars,” he said. “It’s not a simple roadway. The item you’re selling– when someone states no, which is 99 % of the moment– is you.”
He wasn’t crazy about Magnum , however a contract technicality bound him to one more CBS pilot.
Then Spielberg and Lucas offered him the lead in Raiders of the Lost Ark At the time, Magnum ‘s fate as a collection was still uncertain, TVLine notes.
Spielberg and Lucas held the offer open for regarding 6 weeks while CBS decided.
One CBS executive was afraid Selleck would certainly attempt to escape his dedication once he became a film star. Magnum was the network’s highest-testing pilot.
CBS picked up his choice, and Indiana Jones was off the table. Ironically, the 1980 Screen Actors Guild strike later postponed Magnum enough time that Selleck could have recorded both projects after all. “I coulda done both,” he later composed.
Selleck writes that he’s at tranquility, though he confesses questioning what if every now and then.
Magnum, P.I. ran 8 seasons, and Selleck won an Emmy for it in 1984
