The original Hawaii Five-0 series ran on CBS for 12 years, from 1968 until 1980. Jack Lord stars as Steve McGarrett, the leader of an elite branch of the fictional Hawaii State Police. His right-hand man is Dan “Dan-O” Williams (James MacArthur). Others in the cast include Kam Fong, Herman Wedemeyer, Harry Endo, Zulu, Richard Denning, Al Harrington, Al Eben, Peggy Ryan, Glenn Cannon, Danny Kamekona, Moe Keale, Douglas Mossman, and Kwan Hi Lim.
A revival series was first attempted in 1997, led by legendary producer Stephen J. Cannell. A pilot was filmed with Gary Busey in the lead role and several castmembers from the original series returned for the project. Lord was in ill health (he died in 1998) and didn’t participate and the project was ultimately deemed “unairable” by CBS execs.
Last year, it was reported that CBS was toying with the idea of remaking Hawaii Five-0 once again. The project was to be led by be Criminal Minds executive producer Ed Bernerdo and was expected to center around Steve McGarrett’s son. It never got off the ground.
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The network decided to try again, relying this time on a team that includes a pair of feature writers who know about rebooting old TV shows. Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci (Star Trek, Transformers, and Mission Impossible III) and Peter Lenkov (CSI: New York executive producer) were put in charge. Lenkov wrote the pilot script, under the supervision of Kurtzman and Orci.
CBS has now given a greenlight for the pilot and all three scribes are on board as executive producers.
EW is reporting that the network may rely on a familiar face for the lead role. It’s being rumored that Alex O’Loughlin (Three Rivers and Moonlight) is currently in discussions to play Steve McGarrett.
Last week, CBS president Nina Tassler confirmed that Three Rivers was indeed dead, freeing up the actor’s schedule. She also reiterated the network’s desire to be in business with actor. Tassler said, “We love him and want him to stay around a long time.”
What do you think? Is O’Loughlin right for the role of Steve McGarrett? Are you interested in watching a remake of Hawaii Five-0? Could this one succeed where other TV remakes have failed?
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