Why Daniel Dae Kim Left Hawaii Five-0

As far as procedural dramas go, CBS is the unrivaled king of such programming. "NCIS," "CSI," and even dating back to "Gunsmoke," the network has a knack for crafting a long-running hit. Such was the case when they rebooted "Hawaii Five-0" with a new cast for modern viewers in 2010. The series was another success, lasting a full decade and airing well over 200 episodes. Daniel Dae Kim's Chin Ho Kelly was a major part of the show, for the first seven seasons at least. But Kim, along with his co-star Grace Park, left the series ahead of season 8.

Many viewers were certainly frustrated to see these fan favorites leave the show. That begs the question, why did Kim leave? The answer is surprisingly simple. It all boiled down to a pay dispute. Kim, who was coming off of his role as Jin-Soo Kwan on "Lost," took what he described as a "drastic" pay cut in an interview with Vulture when he signed on for "Hawaii Five-0." Meanwhile, Kim described the pay gap between himself and series leads Alex O'Loughlin and Scott Caan as "significant."

So, when it came time to renegotiate, Kim was seeking equal pay. In that same interview, the actor was asked what his goals were in the negotiation. For him, it was simple. It was an ensemble show, so the core ensemble should be paid equally.

"Make us all equal. Make us all the ensemble that I thought we always were, and get me back to where I was with 'Lost.' And I didn't think that was an unreasonable position to take ... And the thing is, it wasn't a source of conflict for me. It was very clear and simple. I was very transparent about it with my castmates, with my showrunner, with the studio from the start. It became much more dramatic because of the way that it didn't come together."

The dispute was truly a dispute. At the time, CBS Entertainment President Kelly Kahl addressed offers that were made to Kim and Park saying, "We made a very lucrative offer to all the actors." During the TCAs in 2017, Kim addressed the "Hawaii Five-0" negotiations as well and, while he didn't want to get into the specifics, he made his position quite clear. As he explained:

"I'm really grateful to CBS and everyone involved with the show for giving me the opportunity. I've known Kelly and [Senior Executive Vice President of Programming] Thom Sherman for a while. I know them and like them. I'm grateful for the words they said on the panel the other day. That said, it's possible to be grateful and respectful of my colleagues and still maintain a steadfast sense of your self-worth."

Kim wasn't speaking for Park, but their goals were aligned in some ways. "I was transparent with Grace about my goals, and Grace had her own goals. And in some ways, they coincided with mine, and in some ways, they didn't. But the two things we had in common were that our contracts were up at the same time and we were both Asian American on a show in Hawaii," he said in that Vulture interview. "I would also say I was proud of the fact that we as a show hired a lot of Asian Americans. I think we need to talk about the good with the bad," he added.

That was part of the problem. O'Loughlin and Caan were both white men being paid more than Kim and Park on a show that takes place in Hawaii. So, Kim put his foot down. The show lasted several more seasons without Kim and Park, but CBS decided to cancel "Hawaii Five-0" after season 10 in 2020. Kim, meanwhile, has managed to work steadily since leaving the show behind.

Some of Kim's TV credits include "The Good Doctor," "New Amsterdam," and Netflix's "Avatar: The Last Airbender." On the movie side, Kim has starred in the 2021 sci-fi film "Stowaway," the underseen 2023 comedy "Joy Ride," and the troubled 2019 "Hellboy" reboot as Ben Daimio, among others.

You can grab "Hawaii Five-0: The Complete Series" on DVD from Amazon.