Drama has been high on the Hawaii Five-0 news front ever since it was announced that Daniel Dae Kim and Grace Park would be exiting the show in Season 8. Now that both sides have had a chance to tell their story, we now know how Hawaii Five-0 will explain Chin's absence in the upcoming season. Looks like Chin will be taking a new job and officially shipping out of Hawaii to live in San Francisco.
The tease for Chin came in Season 7 when the Hawaii Five-0 regular was given a job offer to head up the task force in San Francisco, so this was kind of expected to be the way things would end. While Daniel Dae Kim's character is off camera somewhere near the house from Full House, the series will reportedly be adding a new series regular in his place. EW reports that Chin's departure will be addressed in the Season 8 premiere and used to persuade a female ex-cop to rejoin the Hawaii Five-0 task force.
With a replacement already lined up for his role, it looks like things will be chugging along just fine without Daniel Dae Kim's absence on Hawaii Five-0. Still, CBS publicly acknowledged the want to work with Kim in the future, so the "never say never," rule could be in effect should something change in the next couple years. Considering the cordial nature of both parties in this unfortunate breakup, it doesn't seem completely out of the question for a one-off cameo or a series finale appearance could happen should the money be right.
It appears as though this is the final chapter in the week long drama that has taken place between CBS and Daniel Dae Kim, who says all he wanted was pay equal to his co-stars Alex O'Loughlin and Scott Caan. While CBS maintains that both Kim and actress Grace Park were offered large increases in their salary, it was reported that Kim and Grace Park's salaries were about 10-15% less than their white co-stars. Kim subtly mentioned the snub on his Facebook and hinted the pay disparity may have had something to do with his status as an Asian American.
With Lieutenant Chin Ho Kelly taking the out that Season 7 of Hawaii Five-0 gave him, it seems logical that Grace Park's character Kono Kalakaua will do the same. Season 7 left Kono looking to dig deeper into a child sex trafficking ring, and while the show could be real jerks and decide to kill her off, it seems likely she will exit in that way. With the show being more than accommodating with past actor departures, it doesn't seem likely they'll suddenly flip the script in regards to Park.
Despite the loss of characters, Hawaii Five-0 is still set to return on Season 8 September 29, at 9:00 p.m. on CBS. Those who can't wait for fall programming to start should browse our summer premiere guide for great shows to keep them occupied until then. For more information on CBS's fall lineup, click here.
