MacGyver on CBS: The Gadget Guy Is Back For a New Generation

Annette Brown/CBS ©2016 CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved

MacGyver
CBS
Premieres: Friday, Sept. 23 at 8/7CT
Who’s In It? Lucas Till, George Eads, Sandrine Holt, Justin Hires

Mac’s back!

The cult-favorite series that ran from 1985-1992 and made Richard Dean Anderson a star gets a fun and pulse-pounding update from Hawaii Five-0’s Peter M. Lenkov and the Saw movie series mastermind James Wan, in his first TV project.

Lucas Till — the X-Men films’ Havok — plays a 20-something Angus MacGyver, Department of External Services agent and, yes, massively creative problem solver, with beloved CSI star George Eads taking over as his sidekick Jack Dalton. “For the most part, it’s the same ingredients that we’re trying to bring to this new reboot — which are the humor, the heart, the actual MacGyverisms,” says Lenkov, noting that advanced technology allows them to amp up Mac’s adventures considerably. “All those things work so well and we’re just trying to keep that torch alive.”

And though you should (we can’t emphasize this enough) not try those MacGyverisms at home, Lenkov points out that they’d work if you did — and (we can’t emphasize this enough, either) know what you’re doing.

“We’re actually basing them on real life,” he says. “That’s first and foremost. They all are real. They can be done. I’m hoping people don’t do some of them, because some of them could end up being dangerous in the wrong hands. Anybody but MacGyver. But for the most part, they’re all real.”

For the most part.
Chuckles Till, “There’s gonna be a couple of moments when it’s like, ‘How did he get his cufflink off so fast? And how did he get it back on there so fast?’”

For Eads, becoming an action guy — coupled with his and Till’s bromance, both onscreen and off — made the role irresistible. “This is the most fun I’ve ever had,” he grins. “When we get done with a scene where we’re bickering back and forth like an old married couple, people breathing down our neck, or with him on the skid of a helicopter — it’s pretty easy to want to jump up in the morning and run to work.”

MacGyver Till Eads
MACGYVER — Pictured: Lucas Till, George Eads.

Just don’t ask Eads to be the cameraman should you spot him en route and ask for a selfie.

“That’s because this dude’s inept with technology,” Till crows. “’Hey man, I lost the … thing!’ ‘Yeah, because you clicked Safari.’”

“Jack’s the kind of guy that he wouldn’t probably go on the computer to solve a problem,” Eads retorts. “He’d probably fold it shut to whack somebody in the face with it. That’s probably the best use my character could find with it.”

As for the odds of seeing Anderson make a special guest appearance (perhaps as MacGyver senior?), Lenkov says, “We’ve reached out. We’re hoping to get him on. We’re really all into this. We all found ourselves really being, sort of, MacGyver fanatics and real fans of his. So we’re hoping to have him come on the show and be a part of this new incarnation as well.”

MacGyver airs Fridays at 8/7CT on CBS.

About Lori Acken 1195 Articles
Lori just hasn't been the same since "thirtysomething" and "Northern Exposure" went off the air.