It seems like the time has come for a longtime castmember of Hawaii Five-0 to move on. Masi Oka, who plays Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Max Bergman on the CBS police procedural, will be leaving the show after seven seasons as a series regular. In some cases actors leave shows without much closure, but Max's story will be given a proper conclusion on the show as he rides off to greener pastures.
Masi Oka would be leaving Hawaii Five-0 and would be taking his character Max with him after Episode 13. As to why Oka decided to leave the show, the answer was simple: he felt his character had gone as far as he would go. Max "had done too much of everything he can do," so it seemed like a natural moment to leave, Oka told EW. The other reason for Oka's departure was that the frequent commutes to Hawaii were beginning to take too much of a toll on the actor. Unlike most of the cast members, Oka surmised that he made around 18 round trips to Hawaii a year. In addition to his work in Los Angeles and Japan, his schedule was getting to be too packed with plane rides.
But fans of Hawaii Five-0 shouldn't worry about the fate of Max. The medical examiner is getting a proper send-off and the door for future appearances isn't completely closing. Max recently married Sabrina (Rumer Willis) on the show and the newly wed couple will be moving to Africa in the upcoming 13th episode of the season. While the character will be saying goodbyes to Steve McGarrett and Danny "Danno" Williams (of Book em Danno fame), Masi Oka speculates that there could be future appearances down the road in some form or another.
Max Bergman originally began as a recurring character on Hawaii Five-0 before getting bumped up to series regular in Season 2. Bergman has a penchant for rattling off trivia knowledge and always dresses as a Keanu Reeves character every Halloween. Max's big storyline came when he revealed that his biological mother was killed by a serial killer called The Trashman in the eighties and had to later confront the killer.
While he may be leaving the show, you can see the Heroes actor in a few upcoming projects. He recently finished filming his roles in Netflix's adaptation of the popular anime series Death Note and in Jason Statham's killer giant shark movie, Meg. You can continue to catch Masi Oka in action for a while longer; new episodes of Hawaii Five-0 air on Fridays at 9 p.m. ET, on CBS.
