Here's How Hawaii Five-0 Will Introduce Daniel Dae Kim's Replacement

The departures of Daniel Dae Kim and Grace Park from Hawaii Five-0's eighth season may have come as a shock to audiences who'd watched them in their roles since the series premiered in 2010, but their final moments in Season 7 were strangely accommodating to such news.

Kim's character Chin was offered a new job as the head of a San Francisco task force, while Park's Kono set off on an extended investigation of a child sex trafficking ring.

The show will address both of their exits in the season premiere, and at least one of their fates will help the series usher in some staffing additions as well.

According to Entertainment Weekly, Chin, unsurprisingly, will accept the new gig he was offered in Season 7's final moments, and his transfer from the Aloha State squad will leave a vacancy that the writers plan to fill with another former officer being recruited for Five-0 by McGarrett (Alex O'Loughlin) and Danno (Scott Caan).

That person is Tani. Before Kim's and Park's exits, casting was already underway for the new series regular role of Tani, a lifeguard who was once a top prospect until she was kicked out of the police academy.

Kim and Park left Hawaii Five-0 over a week ago, with Variety reporting that they chose to depart after not being offered pay parity with O'Loughlin and Caan.
Park has yet to publicly address the matter, but Kim released a statement on Facebook last week. "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.

Hawaii Five-0 returns Friday, Sept. 29 at 9/8c on CBS.
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