Hawaii Five-O Loses Masi Oka, Gains Lou Diamond Phillips In Guest Role
Hawaii Five-0’s loveable Dr. Max Bergman played by Masi Oka will be exiting the show this season it has been reported. Hawaii Five-O’s 7th season is due to arrive on Sky 1 in January 2017.
Thankfully Max is not leaving in a body bag, but in a far happier way (obviously, some minor spoilers for the next season of Hawaii Five-0 incoming)…
Oka decided to leave the show as he thought they’d done everything they could with the character, and also the commute! “I’ve been so blessed to work for seven years on a great show, but a lot of my business has been in Los Angeles and Japan,” comments Oka in an interview with EW. “And it’s been increasingly difficult to really commute to Hawaii. I’m probably the only one who really commutes to Hawaii, maybe 18 times a year round trip.”
Masi Oka joined the Five-0 team back in season 1 as recurring character Dr. Max Bergman, the slight odd Chief Medical Examiner. The character was upped to season regular from season 2, but they are now going to be saying farewell to the good doctor, as Max moves to Africa with his new wife Sabrina (played by Rumer Willis, daughter of Bruce).
Oka of course shot to fame as Hiro Nakamura in Heroes, but is also a highly trained visual effects guy, having worked for Industrial Light & Magic on the Star Wars prequels, before getting the acting bug. He’s since reprised the role of Hiro in Heroes Reborn.
To help soften the blow of losing Max, it’s also been announced that Lou Diamond Phillips will appear in a guest role as a hard-nosed U.S. Deputy Marshal who runs a Special Ops tac team. Phillips is currently appearing in Longmire, which is due to end after it’s 6th season, but the ex-Young Gun has popped up in Blindspot, Stargate Universe, Southland and Chuck in recent years.
Hawaii Five-0 returns to Sky 1 in January 2017.
