How should Hawaii Five-0, CBS handle Grace Park – Daniel Dae Kim exits?

Following the news of Grace Park and Daniel Dae Kim’s exit from Hawaii Five-0 last week, one thing feels clear: CBS is in a pickle. They have a show that has now lost two of its most beloved cast members, and they have a limited amount of time now to find replacements. Filming isn’t that far out from starting, and you have to think that the writers were already off somewhere trying to think of what some of their stories were going to be.

The only real parallel to the situation that the writers are in now is what happened to Cote de Pablo over on NCIS, where her exit was shockingly announced shortly before the start of the 11th season of the show. In that instance, the actress made another appearance in order to proper tie up Ziva David’s story; however, there aren’t many signs of this happening here.

Is it possible that Kim and Park feel as though their stories have already been wrapped up already? It certainly feels that way, given that there were cliffhangers that suggested that both Chin and Kono could department. We’d love to think they would stop by again, but a reprisal from the two would only put a bandage on what is now a far greater problem for CBS: They have two massive voids in the main cast, and there may only be so much that can be done in order to fix it.

The last thing that the network should want to do at this point is try to usher in new characters too quickly, given that it’d make it all the clearer that they are just New Chin and New Kono. That’s not fair to the new actors that have to be in that situation. Look at what happened with Emily Wickersham on NCIS or Damon Gupton on Criminal Minds; both of them had the misfortune of appearing after the loss of beloved characters, and regardless of what you may think about Ellie Bishop or Stephen Walker, they never really had that much of a chance.

It was already reported prior to the exit of Kono that Hawaii Five-0 was casting a new female character, and we hope that this person won’t automatically be thought of as Kono’s replacement. Our thought at the time was that she was just meant to be another regular to make up for the loss of Masi Oka last season.

Hopefully, the show takes its time before figuring out how and when to bring some other people into the fold. In the interim, there are enough other cast members to carry a little of the load. Tell some stories focusing on Chi McBride, an accomplished performer who could easily carry his own show; meanwhile, you also still have Scott Caan and Alex O’Loughlin for at least one more season. The sad irony is that so many people were concerned over potentially losing Alex that this move felt all the more like a blindside. Eventually, some other characters could be added, but hopefully the writers take their time and bring them in slowly. If you do it too much too soon, then they face that unfortunate replacement-backlash that they don’t deserve.

Patience is the key word here. Be sensitive to the people who’ve departed, but also to the people signing on so that the fans and the performers have a chance to be happy. What’s done is done, and the writers don’t control contracts to begin with. They have to deal with the cards they were dealt.

How else could Hawaii Five-0 write out Kono?

We recently published a piece all about that, and you can check that out over at the link here.

How do you think Hawaii Five-0 should handle these departures, while also bringing in new characters? Share in the comments. (Photo: CBS.)