MacGyver | |
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MacGyver character | |
![]() Richard Dean Anderson as MacGyver | |
First appearance | "Pilot" |
Last appearance | "Trail to Doomsday" |
Created by | Lee David Zlotoff |
Portrayed by | Richard Dean Anderson Other: Sean Wohland (young) |
In-universe information | |
Full name | Angus MacGyver |
Nickname | Mac |
Occupation | Secret agent |
Family |
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Children |
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Relatives |
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Nationality | American |
Angus "Mac" MacGyver is the title character and the protagonist in the TV series MacGyver. He is played by Richard Dean Anderson in the 1985 original series. Lucas Till portrays a younger version of MacGyver in the 2016 reboot. [1]
In both portrayals MacGyver is shown to possess a genius-level intellect, proficiency in multiple languages, superb engineering skills, excellent knowledge of applied physics, military training in bomb disposal techniques, and a preference for non-lethal resolutions to conflicts. MacGyver works for the fictional Phoenix Foundation in Los Angeles, which in the original series was an independent think tank, and in the 2016 reboot is a clandestine government organization using the cover of a think tank. In addition to his scientific knowledge and inventive use of common items, he always carries a Swiss Army knife and refuses to carry a gun.
MacGyver is a non-violent problem solver and typically eschews the use of guns. [lower-alpha 1] His violent actions are performed in self-defense, and he takes non-fatal action when possible.
MacGyver is depicted as an ally to social and environmental causes. He aids vulnerable populations throughout the series. During vineyard worker strikes, MacGyver assists Latino protesters against vineyard owners. [3] MacGyver appears to have a strong connection with children, filling the role of "big brother" at the series' inception. [2] MacGyver demonstrates his allegiance to children by assisting a mountain excursion for delinquent youths. [4] MacGyver also conducts hearing research at a school for deaf children. [5] In regard to the environment, MacGyver strives to protect endangered species such as eagles, [6] the black rhino, [7] and wolves. [8] At an unspecificed date during the series, MacGyver begins practicing vegetarianism. [9]
MacGyver is persistent and spontaneous. He employs improvisation to evade anticipatory countermeasures, and his plans are difficult to thwart on account of their unpredictability. This constant spontaneity challenges MacGyver as well as his adversaries. Because MacGyver continues to operate in this manner, it is assumed the tactical advantage of spontaneity outweighs its disadvantages. This is observed by MacGyver's nemesis Murdoc.
MacGyver demonstrates mood congruence, exhibiting grief in tragedy, fear in peril, and pain in suffering. [10] This stands in contrast to exaggeratedly macho or stoic action heroes. MacGyver is introspective, and takes responsibility for personal losses and tragedies. He experiences guilt when duty prevents him from attending his mother's death and funeral. He experiences depression when his best friend suffers a fatal climbing accident.
MacGyver's most-used item is his Swiss Army knife. He usually carries a roll of duct tape in his back pocket, flattened out to make it fit. Other items he often has on hand are: an ID card, a Timex Camper watch, strike-anywhere matches, a few paper clips, chewing gum, and a flashlight. He also has a toolbox in his Jeep. [11] MacGyver initially used a Jeep Cherokee and then a Jeep Wrangler beginning with Season 2, but in Season 5 he began driving his grandfather Harry's "classic" 1946 Chevrolet pickup truck. [12]
MacGyver is proficient in Russian, German, French, Italian, Spanish, [13] and American Sign Language, and knows how to use International maritime signal flags and Morse code. [14] He is an avid outdoorsman with skills that include skiing and outdoor survival. Despite an acute fear of heights, he is skilled at mountain/rock climbing, hang gliding, and parachuting - static line and ripcord / HALO. His other hobbies include ice hockey and racing, and he has shown interest in painting and guitar. [15]
His haircut is a mullet, in a clean-cut, lightly gelled variation on the classic hairstyle.
While never being in a long-term on-screen relationship, he has relationships with several women in individual episodes and several past long-term relationships are mentioned, from which he has one child. He is on good terms with his past romantic acquaintances.
MacGyver's first name was originally intended to be Stacey, as seen in a press release from Paramount. [16] However, it was never confirmed in any episode, and remained a mystery until the seventh season; whenever he is asked about it, he says he dislikes his first name and quickly changes the subject. His grandfather, Harry Jackson, calls him "Bud" or "Buddy". Most of his friends and colleagues call him by his last name MacGyver or simply "Mac". In the final season, his first name is canonically revealed to be Angus when, while knocked unconscious and hallucinating, he meets a 7th-century man named Ian M'Iver ("son of Ingmarr") whose son has the same first name. [17] This revelation is repeated in the series finale, which introduces MacGyver's son as having the middle name Angus, as well as on the packaging of the MacGyver DVD season sets.
MacGyver's birthdate is first seen as January 23, 1951 [18] but was then revised in season 2 as March 23, 1952 [19] [20] (the date which continued to be used for the rest of the series). (However, in Series 6 Ep 12 Jerico Games, he looks at a high school yearbook, 1968, when he was supposedly 18.) He was raised in Mission City, Minnesota. MacGyver was in the Cub Scouts. A Den Mother by the name of Mrs. Fryfogel taught him "backwoods common sense" and the motto "Be prepared." [21] At the age of 7, his grandmother Celia Jackson and father James MacGyver (Martin Milner) were killed in a car accident in which they both drowned, and MacGyver grew up with his mother, Ellen MacGyver. [22] His grandfather, Harry Jackson (John Anderson) acted as his father, but moved away when MacGyver was 16, working for a time in Alaska while sending money to MacGyver and his mother, and eventually settled down as a farmer in Minnesota. [23] At about 12 years of age, MacGyver had a traumatic experience with the accidental shooting death of a friend by a bullet from a falling gun. [24] MacGyver is a lifelong player of ice hockey, having played in his local hockey leagues and coached for a minor league team; he is also a supporter of the Calgary Flames and believed he could have made the NHL. [25] He met Jack Dalton while in high school.
MacGyver went to Western Tech where he graduated with a dual degree in chemistry and physics. [26] After graduating from college he turned down an offer to work at the nearby nuclear power plant and it is later revealed that he briefly served during the Vietnam War in a bomb-defusing team. [27] Five years before the start of the series, MacGyver worked as a "Hell Fighter," fighting oil well fires in Sumatra. [28] Sometime during this time MacGyver's mother died of a stroke while he was in Afghanistan on assignment, though no specifics are given other than it being after Christmas. [29] Eventually he moved to Los Angeles where he held numerous jobs until he accidentally meets Peter Thornton, an agent at the Department of External Services. When MacGyver saves Thornton's life using a paper clip, a wrench and shoelaces, MacGyver is offered a job as a field agent at the DXS. [30]
In the first episode of Season 2, Thornton takes a job as Director of Operations at the Phoenix Foundation, [31] and MacGyver follows, where he is hired as a "sort of troubleshooter." [32] He is assigned to a variety of tasks, usually field operations such as conducting environmental surveys and testing security systems. In the fifth season, Harry dies of a heart attack, [33] at which point MacGyver believes he has no remaining relatives. [34] In the second to last episode of the show, it is revealed that MacGyver has a son, Sean "Sam" Angus Malloy. Sean's mother is the photojournalist Kate Malloy who MacGyver had met after college. Kate had been murdered in China several years prior to MacGyver meeting their son for the first time. After discovering and reuniting with Sean, MacGyver decides to resign from the Foundation in order to spend time with his son. [35]
Two television specials featuring the character followed, both occurring and released in 1994, two years after the series ended. In the first one (MacGyver: Lost Treasure of Atlantis), MacGyver teams up with his former college archaeology instructor, Professor Atticus (Brian Blessed), to help him prove his theories about ancient Atlantis while dodging the bullets of genocidal Yugoslav troops, a Greek revolutionary and a ruthless treasure hunter. Soon thereafter (MacGyver: Trail to Doomsday), he investigates the murder of a friend in Britain, and eventually traces it to an unscrupulous businessman who sells nuclear arms research for profit. No mention in either special is made of Pete Thornton, Jack Dalton, MacGyver's son Sean or any of the show's other regulars.
The term "MacGyver" has now become part of the colloquial American English lexicon. When one "MacGyvers" a solution to a problem, one finds a simple yet elegant solution using existing resources. [43] [44] This is in contrast to a kludge, or a Rube Goldberg, which is generally complicated and problematic.
Angus MacGyver | |
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![]() Lucas Till as MacGyver | |
First appearance | "The Rising" |
Last appearance | "Abduction + Memory + Time + Fireworks + Dispersal" |
Created by | Lee David Zlotoff |
Portrayed by | Lucas Till |
Developed by | Peter M. Lenkov |
In-universe information | |
Occupation | Secret agent |
Family | Ellen Hayes (mother) James MacGyver (father) |
Relatives | Harry Jackson (grandfather) Gwendolyn Hayes (aunt) |
Nationality | American |
Lucas Till portrays a younger version of Angus "Mac" MacGyver in the 2016 reboot of the series.
MacGyver has a genius-level intellect and a particular ability for adaptation and improvisation. He is a resourceful U.S. operative who works for the Phoenix Foundation, a covert U.S. government agency operating under the guise of a think tank. Trained as an EOD technician for the Army, Mac prefers to use non-lethal means to stop his enemies, and refuses to carry a gun, though if necessary he will resort to lethal measures. [45] He is never without his trusty Swiss Army knife and uses anything in his environment to his advantage. While not an expert in biology or medicine, MacGyver is shown to be an efficient field medic and knowledgeable in crime scene techniques and DNA sequencing procedures. [46]
He is afraid of heights, though is able to overcome his fear to finish his missions. [47] Though not an expert fighter, he is shown to be able to temporarily hold off multiple enemies in hand-to-hand combat, typically long enough for him to figure out a way to end the conflict using his adaptation and improvisational skills. [48] He is proficient in multiple languages, including Italian, German and Mandarin. [49] He also knows Morse code. [50]
He is shown to be charming, personable, and with an easy ability to make and keep friends. [51] MacGyver shows flashes of intense anger when his friends are threatened or when his father, who disappeared from MacGyver's life at the age of 10, is mentioned. [52]
MacGyver was raised primarily in Mission City, California. His mother died when MacGyver was 5, and his father disappeared from MacGyver's life when MacGyver was 10. [53] After his father's disappearance, MacGyver was raised by his grandfather. MacGyver met his best friend Wilt Bozer in the fifth grade, and both graduated from Mission City High School. Bozer and MacGyver are roommates when the series begins, although Bozer initially believes that MacGyver works as an IT expert. MacGyver spent two years at MIT studying physics, though did not graduate. He left MIT to join the Army because he wanted to make an actual difference in people's lives rather than thinking about theoretical problems, being trained as an EOD technician and spending three years in Afghanistan. [54] In the Army he met Jack Dalton, who was a Delta Force soldier. [54]
After leaving the Army, MacGyver was hired by the Department of External Services, a government clandestine operation using the guise of a think tank. Eventually, Jack Dalton left his position with the CIA and became MacGyver's partner at DXS; by the time of the series pilot, they had spent three years as partners at DXS. [51] After DXS's original, unnamed cover is blown a new cover is needed which will allow for a transition of the organization's assets so its work can continue. MacGyver suggests the name "Phoenix", after the mythological bird that is reborn by rising from its own ashes, and the organization begins using the cover-name of the "Phoenix Foundation". [51]
MacGyver is an American action-adventure television series created by Lee David Zlotoff and starring Richard Dean Anderson as the title character. Henry Winkler and John Rich were the executive producers. The series follows the adventures of Angus MacGyver, a secret agent armed with remarkable scientific resourcefulness to solve any problem out in the field using any materials at hand.
Richard Dean Anderson is a retired American actor. He began his television career in 1976, playing Jeff Webber in the American soap opera series General Hospital, and then rose to prominence as the lead actor in the television series MacGyver (1985–1992). He later appeared in films such as Through the Eyes of a Killer (1992), Pandora's Clock (1996), and Firehouse (1997).
George Coleman Eads III is an American actor, known for his role as Nick Stokes on the CBS police drama CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. He later starred as Jack Dalton on the CBS action-adventure series MacGyver for three seasons.
Ibson Dana Elcar was an American television and film character actor. He appeared in about 40 films as well as in the 1960s television series Dark Shadows as Sheriff George Patterson and the 1980s and 1990s television series MacGyver as Peter Thornton, MacGyver's immediate supervisor at the Phoenix Foundation. Elcar had appeared in the pilot episode of MacGyver as Andy Colson before assuming the role of Thornton.
Bruce Travis McGill is an American actor. He worked with director Michael Mann in the films The Insider (1999), Ali (2001), and Collateral (2004). McGill's other notable film roles include Daniel Simpson "D-Day" Day in John Landis's Animal House, Sheriff Dean Farley in My Cousin Vinny, and Lt. Brooks in Ride Along and its sequel Ride Along 2.
Murdoc is a fictional character that appears in the ABC television series MacGyver and in the CBS reboot series of the same name. In both portrayals, Murdoc is an assassin and frequent antagonist of both series.
Lucas Daniel Till is an American actor. His works span film and television, and his accolades include five Teen Choice Award nominations.
There are various fictional organizations in the 1985–1992 American television series MacGyver.
Justin Hires is an American actor and stand-up comedian. Hires is known for portraying Detective James Carter on the CBS television series Rush Hour, Juario in 21 Jump Street, and Wilt Bozer in the 2016 reboot series of MacGyver.
MacGyver is an American action-adventure television series developed by Peter M. Lenkov that ran on CBS from September 23, 2016 to April 30, 2021, comprising five seasons and 94 episodes. The series stars Lucas Till as the title character, an undercover government agent who prefers to fight crime with ingenious feats of engineering rather than lethal force. It is a reboot of the original series of the same name created by Lee David Zlotoff, which aired from 1985 to 1992. CBS cancelled the show in April 2021; the series finale aired on April 30, 2021.
The first season of the action-adventure series MacGyver premiered on September 23, 2016, on CBS, for the 2016–17 American television season. The series centers on the fictional Phoenix Foundation which is a covert organization masquerading as a think tank. The series stars Lucas Till, George Eads, Tristin Mays, and Justin Hires. Sandrine Holt was also cast in the series but departed in the twelfth episode, "Screwdriver". Meredith Eaton replaced Holt, Eaton debuted in the thirteenth episode, "Large Blade," and began receiving main billing in the eighteenth episode, "Flashlight". CBS announced the series on October 1, 2015. It was ordered to series on May 13, 2016, and received a full season order of twenty-two episodes on October 17, 2016. Only twenty-one episodes were produced when the season concluded on April 14, 2017. The season contained a fictional crossover with Hawaii Five-0 which occurred in episode eighteen.
The third season of the CBS action-adventure series MacGyver premiered on September 28, 2018 for the 2018–19 television season. The series centers on the fictional Phoenix Foundation which is a covert organization masquerading as a think tank. The series stars Lucas Till, George Eads, Tristin Mays, and Justin Hires. Eads departed in "Father + Bride + Betrayal". CBS announced the series on April 28, 2018 for a twenty-two episode third season. The season premiere, "Improvise", brought in 5.77 million viewers.
The second season of the CBS action-adventure series MacGyver premiered on September 29, 2017 for the 2017–18 television season. The series centers on the fictional Phoenix Foundation which is a covert organization masquerading as a think tank. The series stars Lucas Till, George Eads, Tristin Mays, and Justin Hires. CBS announced the series on March 23, 2017 for a twenty-three episode second season.
The fourth season of the CBS action-adventure series MacGyver premiered on February 7, 2020, as a mid-season replacement for the 2019–20 television season. CBS renewed the series for a fourth season in May 2019. The season contained thirteen episodes and concluded on May 8, 2020. The series continues to center on the fictional Phoenix Foundation which is a covert organization masquerading as a think tank. It stars Lucas Till, Tristin Mays, Justin Hires, Meredith Eaton, Levy Tran and Henry Ian Cusick.
"Flashlight" is the eighteenth episode of the first season of MacGyver. It aired on March 10, 2017. The episode was written by Lindsay Allen and directed by Jonathan Brown. The episode was a crossover with Hawaii Five-0. Daniel Dae Kim, Grace Park, and Taylor Wily, crossed over as Chin Ho Kelly, Kono Kalakaua, and Kamekona, respectively.
The Lenkov-verse is a media franchise that consists of a group of three interconnected television reboots that share a fictional universe, and their related media. All three of the television series, Hawaii Five-0, MacGyver, and Magnum P.I., were developed by Peter M. Lenkov who also served as the showrunner on the series. They are each American crime dramas that aired on CBS. Hawaii Five-0 revolves around a task force, led by Steve McGarrett, that investigates crimes in Hawaii. MacGyver centers around Angus MacGyver who uses nonviolent methods to keep the world safe, with the help of a team of undercover government agents. Magnum P.I. follows private investigator Thomas Magnum, who solves crimes in Hawaii with the help of his friends. The universe is also connected to the so-called Bellisario-verse, which consists of the entire NCIS franchise and JAG, via two direct crossovers between Hawaii Five-0 and NCIS: Los Angeles.
"The Rising" is the first episode of the first season of the 2016 reboot of MacGyver. It aired on September 23, 2016. The story for the episode was written by Peter M. Lenkov and Paul Downs Colaizzo. The teleplay was also written by Peter M. Lenkov. The episode was directed by James Wan.
The fifth and final season of the CBS action-adventure series MacGyver premiered on December 4, 2020 for the 2020–21 television season. CBS renewed the series for a fifth season in May 2020 and announced it would be the final season in April 2021. The season contained fifteen episodes and concluded on April 30, 2021. MacGyver, a remake of the 1985 series of the same name, centers on the fictional Phoenix Foundation which is a covert organization masquerading as a think tank. The series stars Lucas Till, Tristin Mays, Justin Hires, Meredith Eaton, Levy Tran and Henry Ian Cusick. Jorge Garcia appeared in the eighth episode of the season as his Hawaii Five-0 character.
Aina Dumlao is a Filipino-American actress best known for her roles as Andie Lee in MacGyver (2016), Natalie in Ballers (2018), Gerlie Bernardo in Grey's Anatomy (2021), and Evie Dela Rosa in the limited series The Unusual Suspects (2021).