The world will surely forgive Kelly Hu for skipping the season one finale of "Hawaii Five-0." It didn’t end well for the Honolulu-born actress when the show’s writers swapped the air bag in her convertible BMW for a claymore mine that exploded when she turned on the ignition.
Hu was a recurring guest star as Laura Hills, assistant to the governor. One moment she was outside Aliiolani Hale chatting about dropping crime rates with her boss, and the next she was engulfed in a fiery blast.
Months later she’s still a little sad about her exit.
"It’s really unfortunate," Hu said in a call from Los Angeles. "I would love to have done more on that show."
Hu was in three episodes of "Five-0." Her departure caught her off guard.
"I didn’t know how I was going to die until I got the script," she said. "It was a surprise to me. They approached me by saying, ‘We just want to bring you back because we want to tie up some loose ends with your character.’ I said OK, and the next thing you know, I am getting blown up. But that’s the breaks."
She didn’t tell anyone beforehand what was going to happen. When it aired, her Twitter time line was flooded with comments from friends and fans, Hu said.
"I was getting tweeted like crazy," she said.
THE ACTRESS had also hoped she would return to TV land as a regular character in "A Mann’s World," a pilot shot for NBC that did not get picked up by the network for the new season. She was going to star opposite Don Johnson, who played the role of a celebrity hairstylist named Allan Mann.
The concept came from Michael Patrick King, who won Emmys for his work on "Sex and the City." It sounded like a sure thing. But there’s no such thing in television.
"It’s dead in the water," Hu said. "It did really sound like it was going to be a great project. It was an amazing cast. Unfortunately, it just didn’t make it. Pilot season is tough. You never know what will get picked up."
She liked the idea of being reunited with Johnson. The two worked together in the late 1990s on Johnson’s TV series "Nash Bridges" on CBS. In "A Mann’s World" Hu played Johnson’s ex-wife, Lei.
"We have all this history from ‘Nash Bridges,’" Hu said. "We absolutely have this great connection and chemistry."
Hu recently finished working on an indie feature film in Los Angeles called "White Frog," which is being produced by Hawaii’s Chris Lee. The two are good friends. The film has a terrific cast: B.D. Wong, Joan Chen, Booboo Stewart, Greg Sulkin and Tyler Posey.
But Hu wants to work again in Hawaii, maybe even on ABC’s new spooky drama, "The River," which starts shooting at the end of the month.
Maybe fans could send an email to ABC singing Hu’s praises. There was a similar effort last year in a social media campaign. Her gig on "Five-0" came at a time when fans lobbied for her on a Facebook page called "I Want Hawaii’s Kelly Hu on Hawaii Five-0."
What’s not to like?
AND that’s a wrap …
Mike Gordon is the Star-Advertiser’s film and television writer. Read his Outtakes Online blog at honolulupulse.com. Reach him at 529-4803 or email mgordon@staradvertiser.com.
