Peter Lenkov is Excited About Major Surprises in Season 2 of Hawaii Five-0!

“There is a resolution at the end of 201, but we still keep a big part of it open. So the team is sort of back together, not really. There are some dynamics that have changed in how they’re going to move forward.”

“When we broke the story, we also broke the resolution. … So we were writing the finale, and also writing the first episode of Season 2 at almost the same time,” he says. “In order to put [characters] in those kinds of situations, you have to know the endgame. You can’t just put it in and then paint yourself into a corner and think, How do I get them out? But we had all these really strong ideas of what we wanted to do in Season 2, and a lot of it is based on how we leave them at the end of Season 1.”

“There’s also a new governor who’s not going to be as lenient as the last governor [Jean Smart], because the last governor had an agenda.

“The last governor gave them full immunity and means, but that was just because she wanted to make McGarrett happy, and she was keeping an eye on him. I think the new governor is sort of more realistic and is going to draw the line — he may give them jurisdiction, but maybe not the immunity and means they had last season. The idea is maybe he’s going to be a little more strict with them.”

It appears that the new governor will be cast locally.

“We’re adding another character to the task force. Nobody knows that yet, but I’m telling you — we’re adding another [member] to this task force. And I’m really excited because there are some major surprises — there’s one in the first episode of the season that I’m hoping is as shocking as the governor being bad. We think it is, but we’re hoping [the audience thinks] it’s amazing, oh my god, I can’t believe they did that. So I’m looking forward to that. And there’s a domino effect to those kinds of things. Those things end up paying off. There’s going to be a love interest for one of our characters. And actually we have a really great arc for Kono that starts at the beginning of the year, which we’re excited about because it really gives her a lot of meat.”

So… can we expect Jenna Kaye back? Or does Peter mean someone completely new?