‘Hawaii Five-0’ Season 9 Air Date, Spoilers: Chi McBride Confirmed Scriptwriter for an Episode; Is Alex O’Loughlin Returning?

“Hawaii Five-0” season 9 was confirmed in April to be happening. The eighth season concluded in May with 25 episodes and had an average of 11 million viewers thus, it is no wonder that CBS ordered a new season a month prior to season 8’s finale.

Showrunner Peter Lenkov disclosed that “Hawaii Five-0” season 9 will feature a surprising event and it is about Chi McBride. He said that the American actor and new member of the Writers Guild turned over a script and he was impressed.

As reported, McBride wrote a Thanksgiving episode and sure enough, they will use it for “Hawaii Five-0” season 9. Talking about the script, TV Line quoted the showrunner as saying, “That’s a big deal for us. Chi called me up and said, ‘I have this thing’ and I said, ‘Write it!'”

Lenkov further narrated that they met a few times after that and Chi McBride finally delivered a great script.

Filming and Cast

The cast and crew of “Hawaii Five-0” season 9 did not waste time and got back to filming just two months after season 8 ended. They went back to filming on July 10 and that day commenced with the show’s traditional Hawaiian blessing ceremony.

Since season 1, the drama has been doing the ceremony at the beginning of their filming and the tradition has carried on. The event was led by Kahu Kordell Kekoa, the same minister who performed the blessings for the show’s sixth and seventh seasons.

Dennis Chun, who plays Sgt. Duke Lukela in “Hawaii Five-0” since its reboot started in 2010, shared photos of the blessing rites on his Facebook page. As can be seen in his post, most of the cast members and key production team were present at the event.

Chi McBride (Lou Grover), Jorge Garcia (Jerry Ortega), Meaghan Rath (Tani Rey), Kimee Balmilero, Beulah Koale (Junior Reigns), Shawn Mokuahi Garnett (Shawn Tupuola) and Shawn Thomsen (Officer Pua Kai) were spotted at the blessings along with showrunners Bryan Spicer and Peter Lenkov. Actors who were not scheduled to film that day also attended the rites so it was one of those memorable gatherings.

Alex O’Loughlin and Scott Caan did not attend and fans were worried that they might have been replaced. But the showrunners assured that the two will still be part of “Hawaii Five-0” season 9 and it just happened that they were still not on the island during the blessings ceremony.

Spoilers – What to Expect

In another TV Line report, it is stated that “Hawaii Five-0” season 9 will have an epic finale as they are planning to have the “Expendables” stars on board. “We’re doing a big sort of Expendables episode,” Lenkov said. “We’re bringing back a lot of people that over the years have helped us.” Thus, expect Stallone, Schwarzenegger and the others to make a guest appearance.

Air Date and First Episode Title

“Hawaii Five-0” season 9 is set to debut on Sept. 28. The first episode is titled “Mimiki ke kai, ahuwale ka papa leho,” which means “When the sea draws out in the tidal wave, the rocks where the cowries hide are exposed.”