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The real reason Daniel Dae Kim left Hawaii Five-0

There was never a dull moment when it came to Daniel Dae Kim's portrayal of Detective Lieutenant Chin Ho Kelly on Hawaii Five-0 — all the way to the end.

Born and raised in Hawaii, Chin started out as a highly decorated officer at the Honolulu Police Department before taking the fall for a family member's crime and resigning in the face of corruption accusations. Chin's long-time friend Steve McGarrett (Alex O'Loughlin) returns to the island to avenge his father's death, but gets a Governor-granted task force instead; that's when Chin exchanges his life as a security guard to join the Five-0.

Throughout Kim's seven-season run on the show, his character's training, technological skills, and knowledge of Hawaii helped him and the team take down numerous bad guys and criminal plots across the islands — as far as Mexico and, once, an alternate reality. Like his job, Chin's personal life was busy if not interesting; he got married early on in season 2 of Hawaii Five-0 before losing his wife at the start of season 3 and later uncovering a connection between his father's murderer and his wife's brother. A seemingly random young woman's homicide eventually led Chin to the discovery a niece he never met, one he eventually takes custody of after saving after from a kidnapping.

While always exciting, Chin's time with the Five-0 eventually had to come to an end, and season 8 of the series revealed he'd left the task force to head-up his own in San Fransisco. The departure was abrupt, with Chin's decision to leave his home and family taking place off-screen between seasons 7 and 8. His absence is explained through throwaway dialogue, but the drama around Daniel Dae Kim's real-life departure from Hawaii Five-0 was anything but brief. Here's the real reason he left the show.