Surf’s Up on Hawaii Five-0 at Comic Con

As Dalton Ross from Entertainment Weekly took the stage to introduce a clip of the upcoming retelling of the seminal classic series Hawaii Five-0 at Comic Con,  one could sense the excitement of the audience within the packed panel room. The clip highlighted the beauty of the island, the action and adventure that will be contained in the series and the gorgeous cast for which the series revolves.

Once the lights were brought back up, Ross proceeded to introduce the crew who were on hand for the panel, including first-time TV director Len Wiseman (known for his directorial work in the Underworld films and Live Free or Die Hard) – who directed the pilot and executive producers Peter Lenkov (CSI:NY and 24) and the team of Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci (the men behind the new retelling of Star Trek, the Transformers, Alias and Fringe).

The cast members attending included Daniel Dae Kim (Lost) and Grace Park (Battlestar Galactica), who were each introduced after a short clip of their characters in action in the pilot were played on the big screen. Another clip of Alex O’Loughlin (who plays Steve McGarrett) and Scott Caan (who plays Danny Williams) during their characters’ first meeting was also played. It was then explained that O’Loughlin and Caan were in Hawaii filming and could not attend the panel.

Grace Park stars in Hawaii Five-0 / CBS

As was expected, one of the first questions was posed to Grace Park, asking how she seems prone to landing roles that originated as male characters. For those unfamiliar, Park starred as Boomer in Battlestar Galactica, which was a male in the original 1970’s series and now she stars as Kono in Hawaii Five-0, who was also a male character. She simply stated that she has just been lucky to get roles that are not stereotypical and finds it a challenge to see the development of the role from the female perspective.

Kurtzman and Orci were then asked about working on a non-sci fi type series. They answered that “it’s great to not hide behind gimmicks or robots.” And, they further stated, “we’ve been doing everything else so it’s nice to do this” for a change.

Lenkov was then asked about the serialized nature of the show and whether the audience will want to stay tuned each week. He stated that there will be “a mystery arc over the first season, but there will also be character stories that will allow viewers to either watch week to week or jump in and watch when they choose.” In other words, the show won’t be heavily serialized.

The cast and crew all agreed that on day one of filming, it felt like they were on year 5 of the series; they were that comfortable with each other and got along that well that it seemed like they were already a family.

Of course, Len Wiseman was asked why he decided to come over to television to direct and he stated it was because of the “huge explosions in the pilot, but it was also because of the script and my love of the characters.” He also stated later on that “the speed at which everything is done (in TV) is much faster and more stressful, but the shooting is the same way, just faster.”

The panel would not have been complete without talking about the iconic theme song for the original show and Kurtzman and Orci explained that they had initially thought about having a rock musician redo the theme; but that idea was quickly nixed. Instead, arrangements were made to have the original musicians come into the studio to re-record the theme song just as it was. With that the lights were dimmed and video of the musicians and conductor was shown as they recorded the theme song with a contemporary sound.

Daniel Dae Kim stars in Hawaii Five-0

Both actors were then asked about the transitions they had to make from their previous characters into their new roles on Hawaii Five-0. Daniel stated he was “beginning a great new journey,” playing Chin Ho and it will take a “conscious effort” for him to learn about Chin Ho especially given that Jin (his character on Lost) “was a large part of my life.” Grace stated that the transition hasn’t “been easy”, as her experience on Battlestar Galactica was so “amazing,” that she thought “every show was like that, but they’re not.”

It was asked of Kurtzman and Orci how they have time for all the projects for which they are working on with the team responding that they are great partners and that “Peter is running a lot of things for them on location”. They also explained they multi-task well and follow a schedule.

The audience then had their chance to ask questions with the following being the result of the Q&A round:

• Daniel was drilled about the ending of Lost and he was diplomatic with his answer, stating he “was satisfied with the ending” and that he looked forward to being able to talk about Hawaii Five-0 without a “muzzle being put on”;
• The show will have a more balanced approach to the characters, with individual stories about each one interlaced throughout the series;
• There will be recurring villains throughout the series;
• Island politics will also play into the series;
• The Navy will continue to be involved in the series because of the background of McGarrett’s storyline; and,
• CBS has been very supportive of the show and its cast with Kurtzman stating that “when CBS loves a show, they love the show.”

As the panel came to a close, the introduction that was aired at the beginning of the panel was once again played for the packed panel room and received and even more enthusiastic response.

Hawaii Five-0 premieres Monday, September 20 at 10/9c on CBS.