Behind the Scenes w/Daniel Dae Kim at Comic-Con for Hawaii Five-0

I made my third annual trek to Comic-Con in San Diego last weekend, although I must admit that there was a giant hatch-sized hole in the schedule without an official Lost panel there this year. Thank goodness for Tara and Paul’s Lost Encyclopedia panel on Saturday (more on that in the near future)!


While working behind the scenes for TVOvermind, I had the opportunity to participate in a press roundtable interview with Daniel Dae Kim, who was there promoting his new series Hawaii Five-0. It was a mini-S6 Oahu premiere reunion, as I sat next to my good friend Jay of the Jay and Jack podcast – and DDK recognized us both, which was a nice bonus.


DDK is very excited about H50, and wants to assure Lost fans that “despite the fact that this is a more self-contained kind of show, episode to episode, there are going to be some long-standing character arcs that are going to develop over time. That is something that I’m really looking forward to.”


He continued, “I’d done a lot of work in the sci-fi genre. This action comedy genre, and a cop show, is something that I hadn’t done very much of. 24 was my closet foray into that area, but this appealed to me because it was a change of pace.”


Similar to Jin on Lost, DDK’s H50 character Chin Ho (which he did not have to audition for) “has a conflicted past. He has secrets that he doesn’t want to let out and you’re going to see how he deals with them this season.”


Asked if he is happy about being on a show with only four main characters, DDK said (with a laugh), “Yes and no. It means that everyone gets more to do but we have fewer days off!”


When someone inquired what DDK thought about being a sexy Asian male on television, he responded, “On a larger scale, it’s fantastic. Any time there is more diversity in what people think is sexy – I’m all for it. Different flavors for everyone.”

Location location location – to no one’s surprise, that played a large factor in DDK’s decision to remain on Oahu. “I love Hawaii, my family loves Hawaii, we’re all settled there. But I wouldn’t have stayed if it weren’t a project I couldn’t be proud of. Thankfully, Hawaii Five-0 came along when it did; the timing of it couldn’t be more perfect.”


After the press room, we were treated to some new, fast-paced and fun footage of H50 at the panel, and were thrilled to hear that the iconic theme song will remain the same. The scenes that I’ve watched thus far are surprisingly action-packed and very entertaining. 


I highly recommend H50 to Lost fans that are seeking a new adventure with a familiar face, and a show that does not necessarily require hours of analysis after each new episode!


Stay tuned to TVOvermind for interviews with DDK's co-star Grace Park (BSG), as well as director Len Wiseman (a huge Lost fan!) and writer/executive producers Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci (Alias, Fringe, Star Trek, Transformers).