She's like MI6, and she knows her way around a computer and a golf club and a gym and a car… there's no shying away from her being able to drive just as well if not better than all the guys. She's very careful with everything. This is like the most expensive piece of machine. She's constantly giving Magnum a hard time for not keeping it clean and she's a kind of an every woman. Someone said her to be, ‘she is snooty,’ she's actually not snooty she's just responsible and when we're going to find out and then see why she's there? What's she doing in Hawaii? It's about as far from home is she can get and I know that because I live in the UK and it's very far. Possibly she's got a little bit of a murky history that we're aware of and at the same time, she's kind of on her own. She is far-flung which is why the sense of camaraderie she's getting a peek of with these guys is appealing to her and she misses that team. That’s her motivations to getting involved.
Meet Juliet Higgins
Juliet Higgins is a former MI6 agent who serves as the majordomo for Robin Masters’ Hawaiian estate and partners with Thomas Magnum as a P.I.
Early Life
Juliet Higgins had a challenging childhood; her father left home when she was 10 years old. She was sent to boarding school where, in order to avoid bullying, she kept to herself to avoid drawing the attention of the “mean girls.” During season 3, she mentions that she would sneak into the library at night because she had nowhere else to go and didn’t fit in with any student groups. She felt like an outsider because everyone else came from wealthy and prestigious backgrounds, unlike her, which toughened her.
Later, her mother was diagnosed with dementia, and Juliet became her caretaker. She sadly notes that her mother didn’t remember her due to the dementia. In season 5, she gets emotional while telling Thomas that when her mother was in the final stages of her illness, Juliet decided to place her in a care facility. She was excelling in her career at MI6 and didn’t want to give it up. So, she thought the best thing she could do was to leave her mother in the care of those who could truly look after her in that state. In the episode, she becomes emotional and reflects, thinking that she should have done things differently, perhaps putting her career aside to care for her mother. Then Thomas comforts her, understanding that at that moment, it was the best she could do for her mother.
In season 4, Juliet mentions that her father was a wrestling coach who taught her how to fight. He was a tough individual, whereas her mother was more refined. When Magnum asks if she takes after her mother or father, she replies, “kind of both.”
Juliet didn’t have many friends when she was younger and often kept to herself. She was also selective about dating and only began to do so when she was a young adult. She tells Magnum that she used to babysit children when she was younger.
Before moving to Hawaii...
Higgins was in British Intelligence, MI6. She fell in love with another fellow agent, Richard Dane. They were engaged, made plans for a future together, and intended to resign from MI6. They were going to be married and start a family. A week before they were set to leave MI6, as planned, Richard was killed on assignment in Istanbul while trying to track down Viper. Unfortunately, Viper was waiting for him. His body washed up weeks later. That’s when Juliet went rogue. She tried to hunt down Viper on her own, ignoring any recalls from her superiors. Her attempt to avenge Richard led to her being disavowed. This happened in 2015.
She came to Hawaii invited by Robin to be the majordomo of Robin’s Nest. Juliet often expressed her gratitude towards Robin because he did a lot for her.
Upon arriving in Hawaii, she befriended an elderly gentleman who had two young dogs. When he passed away, he left the dogs to Higgins. She says she doesn’t know if the gentleman was trying to help the dogs or her, because Zeus and Apollo helped Higgins feel alive again. All she wanted to do was stay in her bed and cry, but because of the dogs, she had to get up. She needed to take care of them, feed them, and take them for walks.
Since she had just arrived in Hawaii, she didn’t know anyone. Zeus and Apollo were the only ones helping her get through this grieving period. They made her feel loved, and Higgins considers them to be members of her family. She has a great love for them. She also shares that, before Zeus and Apollo, she was a “Cat Lady.”
“It’s a strong woman with these great beasts totally at her behest, which is kind of cool. And with Magnum, the dogs they really don’t like him and they’re an extension of her to some degree. It’s a visual expression of her power which I really like.” – Perdita Weeks about Julian Higgins and the lads.
During the fifth season, we will see that the lads’ behavior changes towards Magnum. They no longer want to attack him, as Magnum is now in a relationship with their “mommy”.
"I’m far less tough than she is and far more apologetic but she is so fun to play. She might have brought out something in me that potentially wasn’t there to begin with – this sort of tough aspect and quite forthright and headstrong."
PERDITA WEEKS, about Higgins
Season 1 & 2
Higgins is the “majordomo” (i.e., property manager) for the large Hawaiian estate of writer Robin Masters. During season one, we can see a Juliet who is more kind of bossy, uses sarcasm to deflect emotion, and she is hard to get to know – but it’s worth in the end.
She confesses that she didn’t have a good first impression of Magnum, as she thought he was taking advantage of Robin’s goodwill and didn’t want to work. She expresses being very bothered by the fact that nobody told her – especially Magnum – that he would be the head of security. It is also mentioned that Juliet encouraged Magnum to go after clients to work as a P.I.
During the first season, as she gets to know Magnum better, she changes her opinion about him, especially after learning about his past and traumas. She starts helping Magnum with P.I. cases and feels good about helping people in need. In the episode “Blood in the Water,” Magnum and Higgins have a long conversation about how they felt when they first met, also discussing things that bothered them and ended up getting closer.
As a former MI6 agent, she knows how to hack a computer, is capable of picking locks, and knows how to fight. Although she is British, she doesn’t like tea (“I can’t stand tea. I might be the first Brit in history to ever say that.”) and she also isn’t used to eating Fish and Fries. She initially claimed to have left England because of the winters. Jack Candler (tech entrepreneur and big-time art collector) was a good friend of hers and made it a little bit easier to be this far away from home, but he was killed and left a very sad Higgins.
Juliet Higgins is afraid of getting close to people and getting hurt, so she puts up “barriers” to protect herself. Kumu helps her lower these “barriers” in some conversations, and it is seen that she is comfortable with Kumu.
Higgins is offered a job to go back to England and work for MI6. During this time, Magnum also proposes to her to become his partner as a P.I. In the second season, she accepts Magnum’s proposal and says she might have something in Hawaii that she doesn’t want to lose. The two get even closer as Higgins lowers her “walls” and lets Magnum into her life. At the end of the second season, when Higgins is shot, Magnum is afraid of losing her and shows his noblest feelings to her.
In the third season, when Juliet starts dating a doctor (Ethan), we can see her “soft” side. Following Magnum’s advice (from the first season), she opens up to love. We get to know a loving and affectionate Higgins. And we also see how she can get hurt by letting her “walls” fall. Higgins does everything she can to not miss the chance of a new love, including traveling to Kenya with her boyfriend, leaving Magnum behind. He advises her to follow her heart. TC and Rick think Magnum loves Juliet, but he wants to see her happy.
"You deserve the kind of love where you don't have to decide"
The time away from Magnum helped Juliet realize feelings she didn’t know she had. When she returns and sees that Magnum has a new girlfriend, his house is different (with perfume and candles), we can suspect that she feels a little sad that he “moved on apparently well without her.” She starts having therapy sessions to understand her feelings and emotions. With that, she discovers that she is no longer in love with Ethan, although she has a special affection for him. She wasn’t upset about her boyfriend staying in Kenya, away from her, for another 6 months.
Magnum notices Juliet’s “soft” side; he even says “she is different.”
They help each other, comforting each other in delicate moments during this season. Juliet stops denying that she’s in love with Thomas, but she tries to ignore this feeling as a defense mechanism. She’s very afraid of losing her best friend and business partner. Magnum also stops denying his feelings for her. Juliet shows a lot of her rational side, letting reason always speak first before emotion, as she tries to analyze her feelings for Magnum in every possible way. In the end of the fourth season, they confess their feelings of love.
“I mean, I’m glad that they had her do that. I think it needed to come from her in order for it to happen, because she was always going to be the one who leads with her head, whereas [Thomas] is very much more heart-driven. He is the more naturally emotional or romantic one, while [Juliet] is very stuck in her head and over-analytical.
Going forward, I just hoped that they would soften her and we’d see more of that as opposed to her being sort of needlessly harsh towards him, which I always perceived as a defense mechanism. She has her walls up. She doesn’t want to get close to somebody, and in fact she says that a couple of times. She’s scared of falling for him basically because she doesn’t want to get hurt. Now that [the kiss] has happened, you see a softer side of her towards him, specifically going forward.”
- Perdita Weeks
about Juliet Higgins
Q&A with Perd
cinemovie interview
CineMovie: I really like your character. You’re kick ass. You break out the moves?
Perdita: Yes.
CineMovie: Did you have any stunt experience beforehand?
Perdita: I’ve done a lot of really physical roles. I really enjoy it. It’s really fun. I mean I’m not properly trained in martial arts, just with friends and family. I have a very supportive family.
CineMovie: You look like you’ve been doing this for a while.
Perdita: Yes. I can handle myself and stuff. We have a great stunt team, and they just show you. You just rehearse enough times and it goes… it’s just great fun. It’s really just so much fun to play.
CineMovie: Yes, I loved your scenes because the camera stays on you for most of the scene.
Perdita: No, no it was me doing it.
CineMovie: There are usually a lot of cutaways to the stunt woman, but not in the pilot.
Perdita: No, I did everything except there’s one piece where there’s a backflip through pane glass which I wasn’t allowed to do. I wanted to.
CineMovie: And it’s fake glass, right?
Perdita: No, it was real glass. It’s real glass it just breaks easily, but it’s still glass. It’s not a sugar or anything. They say its sugar glass but it’s glass. So, yeah!
CineMovie: Oh, wow.
Perdita: Yes, it’s tricky. Yes, we have a great team and she makes that going backward through the thing…. but yes they made me look great.