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The Island Is Keeping Daniel Dae Kim!

Lost star gives first interview on his new series

By Kristin Dos Santos May 19, 2010 5:00 PMTags
Scott Caan, Daniel Dae Kim, Alex O'Loughlin, Hawaii Five-OMario Perez/CBS

Amidst all the exciting TV news this week—the cancellations, the pickups, the time-slot changes, etc.—here's something you might not think about: This news is changing people's lives.

One cool example? Lost's Daniel Dae Kim, who got the official news today that his new series, Hawaii Five-O, has been picked up by CBS. I talked with Daniel exclusively in his first interview about the show, and here's why this pickup is so crazy cool...

As evidence that good things do happen to good people (please don't get me gushing about how throughly awesome DDK is in real life), Daniel pretty much won the lottery today with CBS' Hawaii Five-O, as it is the one and only series shooting on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, which Dan and his wife and sons have called home now for six years. (And of course, the show is very lucky to have him, too.) This means no uprooting the fam back to the mainland.

Not to mention, CBS' Hawaii Five-O is from the great minds of Fringe producers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, who are part of the JJ Abrams family (as was Dan's previous series, Lost—duh), and the show is already getting substantial buzz and rave reviews from those who've seen it.

What does Michael Scott call that? A win-win-win!

What does the Island call it? Fate!

Here's what else Dan has to say about his Five-O gig...

How does the pickup news feel?
I'm really excited for all the poeple who worked so hard to get this show on the air. I think we have something special. I hope the audience will think so, too.

How was it shooting the pilot?
It was fantastic! Hawaii Five-O is a very different show from Lost. It's big in a different way. There are a lot of explosions, things being blown up, guns everywhere. Well, come to think of it, it's not that different from Lost. [Laughs.] Playing a cop in the real world, I guess I'm a little bit like Miles (Ken Leung) or Sawyer (Josh Holloway) in the Flash Sideways. It was a lot of fun, and it was great to see some familiar faces on the crew and meet some new people on the cast.

Gives us the dirt on Alex O'Loughlin. The ladies want to know. And by "the ladies," I mean me.
Alex is fantastic. I hadn't met him before. I heard a lot about him. But he's a pro, he's dead-on. He works really hard; he set a really great tone for the rest of the cast and crew. He's very familiar with the cult following. It's been interesting to watch the Internet chatter because he has a very vocal fan base. They're all chiming in on Five-O.

How is this Five-O different than the original?
This Five-O keeps the heart of the original version, but it's heavily updated. Some of the characters are descendants of the original characters and others have the same names but have no relation. The template is there, but the emphasis is on making it modern and making it very timely.

What about your character?
He has more local knowledge than the rest. He knows how the island works. He knows how to get information from people in a way that the others haven't learned yet. So, he's kind of the island connection. I like him a lot because he's very affable, very friendly and close to my personality in that way. At the same time, he's a great cop. I like playing both sides of him.

Your producers Robert and Alex are part of the JJ Abrams family. So does it feel similar in any way to Lost?
In some way, there are major differences. But the thing that I really appreciate and feel like is familiar is the sense of family. I actually want to sound cliché about this. They have done an exceptional job of creating an environment where we're all part of the same team, and I really, really appreciate that.

So since the show is updated, you don't get to go all '70s like you did on Lost? No sideburns? Bummer!
[Laughs.] You know, we should have a retro '70s flashback, I'll pitch that. I've been looking for another reason to wear the Dharma suit again!

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