Stars Daniel Dae Kim and Grace Park have departed CBS’ “Hawaii Five-0.” Their characters, Chin Ho Kelly and Kono Kalakaua, will not appear in the upcoming eighth season. The characters’ absence will be referenced in the season premiere.
Sources tell Variety that Park and Kim had been seeking pay equality with stars Alex O’Loughlin and Scott Caan, but were unable to reach satisfactory deals with CBS Television Studios, which produces the series. Kim and Park were believed to be making 10-15% less than O’Loughlin and Caan.
Source and more: Variety
CBS says fans will be updated on their characters in the season premiere on Friday, September 29.
“I will never forget meeting Daniel while still writing the pilot and being certain there was no other actor who I’d want to play Chin Ho Kelly,” said Peter Lenkov, executive producer. “Needless to say, Daniel has been an instrumental part of the success of Hawaii Five-0 over the past seven seasons and it has personally been a privilege to know him. Grace’s presence gave Hawaii Five-o a beauty and serenity to each episode. She was the consummate collaborator, helping build her character from Day 1. They will always be ohana to us, we will miss them and we wish them both all the best.
Source and more: Deadline
The unscripted departures of Park and Kim will leave a massive hole in the show, and moves Hawaii Five-0 a step closer to cancellation after the upcoming eighth season.
Stay tuned as we continue to track the cancel/renew status of H50 Season 9…
michael griffith says
PUT A FORK IN THE SHOW IT’S DONE, WAS A GOOD SHOW DONE WATCHING NOW.
Nikki says
Couldn’t have said it better myself!
Jeff says
DAMN CBS, You could always bring in other Characters to replace CHIN HO and KONO. This really sucks!
harry clark says
why not give them the money? geezzz CBS being pretty cheap, shame to end the show because of that
Another Poster says
Alex O’Loughlin signed a contract to appear on 8 seasons, and he had said he would like to leave at the end of this season, because of the physical demands of the role and the damage it has done to his body. Scott Caan lives in Los Angeles and appears in 20 of the 25 episodes each season. The fact that Daniel Dae Kim and Grace Park were not paid as much as Scott Caan is not fair and this will probably be the last season of the program. (I agree that since Alex O’Loughlin is the star of the show and with the physical demands that come with the role, he deserves to be paid more. The stunt work he did on the season finale for season 7, May 2017, was incredible).
Ashanti says
Big deal! He’d never beat the real S. Margaret (Jack Lord). Now there’s an actor.
Deborah says
No Daniel or Grace? I can stop watching then..no season 8 in my home..Will be switching to NBC and Taken…Sick of the idiots who THINK they can dictate to me what is interesting to watch, when they continue to mess with the casts!