Before it was canceled, Hawaii Five-0 ran for 10 seasons and nearly 250 episodes from 2010 to 2020. It's an impressive run, to say the least, and it certainly kept itss cast and crew employed for a while. Despite that though, at least one star can think of a major drawback that comes with that kind of longevity. Series alum Scott Caan was the one to open up about the downside of working on the hit CBS show (and his reasoning makes sense).
Scott Caan, who portrayed Detective Sergeant Danno Williams of the HPD, was the latest guest on the podcast Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum. While speaking to the Smallville alum, Caan said that he mostly had a great time filming the series. However, what he had a hard time with was the sometimes repetitive nature of the storytelling, which he believes isn't the best thing for an actor. When making his argument and discussing his work, he said:
Looking back, it was a great time. I got to live in Hawaii. One of my daughters was raised in Hawaii a little bit. There’s a lot of positives, but there are a lot of negatives, too. You know, as an actor, if you do the same thing for 10 years, it’s like everybody’s seen everything you got, you know? We came up looking at actors who you’d see, maybe they’d do two movies a year. … It’s hard to not become schtick. It’s like, ‘Oh, he’s doing schtick.’ I’m doing a new show now, and I’m like, ‘God, I’d like it to be as far away as possible from that other role.’ But it’s still me. You’ve seen my whole bag of tricks.
What he seems to be saying here is that after playing a single role over hundreds of episodes, it's hard for an actor to truly surprise the audience with their skills. He also makes a fair point in that if material becomes too repetitive, it can become stale or schtick-like. This a very interesting dichotomy. Because on the one hand, you have job security, and that's certainly something that many people (and not just actors) seek. But in Scott Caan’s case, he also wanted to spread his wings a bit and flex his acting muscles with other projects, which is fair. As he even said during the convo, he wasn't able to make a movie for a decade.
The 46-year-old actor didn't appear in every installment, however, as he would miss multiple Hawaii Five-0 episodes per season, which he's provided an explanation for. Earlier this year, he clarified that he could've appeared in every one but would block time off to spend with his family. Later in his conversation with Michael Rosenbaum, he named his loved ones as some of the blessings to come from his time on the procedural:
There were pluses and minuses. I mean, also, I didn’t know what a procedural television show was when I signed on to do that. I had no idea. I thought it was gonna be one thing, and it was something else. But overall, I look back at it as a blessing. I got married. I became a family man over there. I love to surf, I love jiu-jitsu. The culture over there fit me perfectly. But then, at the same time, I miss home, I miss New York. I miss doing movies. You know, I didn’t do a movie for 10 years. … But yeah, I definitely look back at it as something great, but parts of it were shitty.
At the very least, it's good to hear that there are a number of positives that he can take from the experience. You can see his interview in its entirety by watching the video below:
As mentioned, Scott Caan landed a new series, as he's one of the stars of Fox drama Alert: Missing Persons Unit, and it marks his first series regular role since the Hawaii-set drama ended. He's also done a few other things and most recently starred in One Day as a Lion, which is available with an Amazon Prime subscription. He's also set to star in the upcoming drama series Topangaland. Given his feelings about Hawaii Five-0, you have to wonder just how long Scott Caan would stick with his newest series, should it prove to be as successful. We'll just have to wait and see, but one does get the impression that he'll be a bit more thoughtful when it comes to choosing his projects moving forward.
You can stream episodes of Hawaii Five-0 using a Paramount+ subscription, and take a look at the 2023 TV schedule for details on shows that are currently airing.
