Daniel Dae Kim on ‘Hawaii Five-0’ Departure: ‘I Made Myself Available to Come Back’
Daniel Dae Kim is speaking out for the first time since his departure from Hawaii Five-0 was announced. In a heartfelt message posted to the actor’s Facebook page, Kim confirmed a contract dispute led to his leaving the show. “Though I made myself available to come back, CBS and I weren’t able to agree to terms on a new contract, so I made the difficult choice not to continue,” he wrote.
“As sad as it feels to say goodbye, what I feel most is gratitude. I am so deeply thankful to our crew, writers and everyone associated with the show—and especially the cast, who have been nothing but supportive through this entire process,” Kim continued. “They and the crew have been my second family for seven years and I wish them nothing but success for season 8—and beyond.”
It was announced late last week that Kim and co-star Grace Park, who have played cousins Chin Ho Kelly and Kono Kalakaua, respectively, since the show’s first season, will not return for the CBS procedural’s eighth season.
“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,” executive producer Peter Lenkov said at the time. “Needless to say, Daniel has been an instrumental part of the success of Hawaii Five-0 over the past 7 seasons and it has personally been a privilege to know him. Grace’s presence gave Hawaii Five-0 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.”
Next up for Kim: executive producing a new drama series, The Good Doctor, this fall for ABC starring Freddie Highmore (Bates Motel).
Hawaii Five-0—a reboot of the 1968-1980 classic— stars Alex O’Laughlin (Steve McGarrett), Scott Caan (Danny Williams), and Chi McBride (Lou Grover).
Hawaii Five-0, Fridays, 9/8c, CBS
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O
I will gladly take 10-15 percent less hire me! These two are tools for leaving a steady gig as an actor. They are supporting cast as the show was about the other two.
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O
Scott Caan is only a recurring character any more. Alex is the only lead character they have now. They will need to replace Grace and Daniel other wise it will be mostly just Alex and Chi
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They had 7 good seasons which is more than either of them had on the shows that made them famous ( Lost and Battlestar)... My guess is their 7 year contract was up and they wanted more money and played chicken with producers who created storylines to explain why the characters might be missing the following season.. Happens all the time on TV.. Grace can take some time off with her family which wouldn't be all bad.. Daniel looks like he has a behind the camera job coming up.. It would have been curious what would have happened if he lessened his demand and signed for a new season how that would have worked.. There are few procedural cop shows that stay completely the same over a long run... Blue Bloods is the only one on these days that really hasn't changed its actors at all except for supporting roles like Danny's partner and Jamie's co-workers. But the main stars have remained the same and Danny's children have grown older around the dinner table..
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I don't even watch it but they are dumb leaving over 10-15%
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G
Castle and Sleepy Hollow tried to do something similar with a few of their core cast members thinking they weren't worth as much, causing them to either be fired when they spoke out or leave out of lack of respect that a paycheck wasn't worth putting up with. And look at what happened to those shows after that.
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O
The show is horrible with them or without them hopefully it will be taken off the air someday so they can get a better one on.
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