‘Hawaii Five-0’ Season 8 Casts Meaghan Rath, Beulah Koale; Ian Anthony Dale Promoted To Series Regular

“Hawaii Five-0” Season 8 will introduce two new characters in its upcoming episodes.

According to TV Line, CBS just cast Meaghan Rath and Beulah Koale in major roles. Rath, who starred in “Being Human,” will play the role of Tani Rey, a hotel lifeguard who was axed from the Police Acedemy despite being one of its best candidates. Prior to the network’s announcement, fans already learned of Rath’s casting after a photo of her on set was leaked online. Earlier this month, it was already revealed that the heads of “Hawaii Five-0” were looking to cast a character named Tani.

Read: “Hawaii Five-0” EP Peter Lenkov fires back at Daniel Dae Kim following pay increase issue

Koale, on the other hand, will give life to the character of Junior Reigns, a former Navy SEAL. He will personally reach out to McGarrett (Alex O’Loughlin) for a job.

But other than these two new cast members, “Hawaii Five-0” has also upgraded actor Ian Anthony Dale to series regular status. Dale played the role of Kono’s (Grace Park) husband, Adam, in multiple seasons. Adam will be recruited by McGarrett to work for Five-0. Dale’s other acting credits include “Murder in the First,” “The Event” and “Day Break.”

Meanwhile, Dale’s onscreen wife, Park, has decided to leave “Hawaii Five-0” after seven seasons. Her co-star, Daniel Dae Kim, who played the role of Chin Ho Kelly, won’t be returning as well. After announcing their decision to exit the CBS series, reports swirled that Park and Kim have been trying to secure pay equality with their fellow original cast members, O’Loughlin and Scott Caan. According to Kim, he and Park failed to get approval for their requests.

But “Hawaii Five-0” executive producer Peter Lenkov clarified that there is no truth to Kim’s claims. He released a statement (via Variety) explaining that CBS has been nothing but generous when it came to Kim and Park’s pay. “CBS was extremely generous and proactive in their renegotiation talks. So much so, the actors were getting unprecedented raises, but in the end they chose to move on. No one wanted to see them go – they are irreplaceable,” he said.

“Hawaii Five-0” will premiere on CBS on Sept. 29 at 8 p.m. EST.