Ahead of “Hawaii Five-O” Season 8, the CBS series made a big change to its casts after Grace Park and Daniel Dae Kim decided to exit from the show.
New casts
Variety reported that Beulah Koale and Meaghan Rath have joined the cast, while Ian Anthony Dale has been added to the series' regular cast
Koale will portray Junior Reigns, a former Navy SEAL. After returning from active duty, he asks McGarrett (Alex O’ Loughlin) for a job, hoping to put his skills to use as a new member of Five-O.Rath will portray the role of Tani Rey, who worked as a lifeguard after being kicked out from the Police Academy.
McGarrett recruits her to be a new member of Five-O.Dale will continue his role as Adam Noshimuri. He becomes a trusted resource and confidant, who will be recruited by McGarrett with the hope of becoming a new member of Five-O
The three new cast members will be joining Alex O’Loughlin, Scott Caan, Jorge Garcia, Chi McBride, Kimee Balmilero, Taylor Wily and Dennis Chun, who will be returning for “Hawaii Five-O” season 8. The CBS series is set to premiere on Friday, September 29, at 9 p.m. Peter Lenkov, Roberto Orci, Eric Guggenheim and Alex Kurtzman executive produced the show.
Casting changes caused uproars
The CBS series bid goodbye to the two original cast members: Daniel Dae Kim and Grace Park.
The two stars will not be returning for “Hawaii Five-O” season 8.
The said departures of the two original cast members caused an uproar from the show’s fans, adding that the network lacks diversity.
CBS released a statement saying that they did not want to lose the two Asian American stars and “tried very hard to keep them in the show by offering large and significant salary increases.” The executive producer and showrunner of “Hawaii Five-O” added that CBS was extremely proactive and generous during the renegotiation talks but the two actors chose to exit from the show and move on.
He added that no one wanted to see them bid goodbye from the show as they are both irreplaceable.
Variety has learned that both Alex O’Loughlin and Scott Caan are making around $200,000 per episode for “Hawaii Five-O” season 8, and the offer to Daniel Dae Kim was less than what the two lead stars make. An alleged source from Variety claimed that there is a difference of $5,000 and more.
Kim took to his official Facebook account and thanked the fans for supporting his role on the show. Meanwhile, Grace Park has not released any comment regarding her departure from the series.
