‘The Good Doctor’ Star Will Yun Lee Would ‘Love to Go Back’ to ‘Hawaii Five-0’ (Exclusive)

The Good Doctor star Will Yun Lee has popped up on CBS’ Hawaii Five-0 from time to time as the criminal Sang Min, but it has been a while since the team last had a run-in with him. Lee would like to change that soon though, as he recently told PopCulture.com that he loved working on the series. It helps that the ensemble cast and crew were so welcoming, making the actor feel like he was family whenever he worked on the show.

Lee’s character appeared in the very first episode of the Hawaii Five-0 reboot, now in its 10th season. However, thanks to several other television shows and movies, Lee has not made it back to the show since the 2017 episode “E malamo pono (Handle With Care).” Overall, Lee has played the character in 11 episodes so far.

“Hawaii Five-0 will always have a place. It’s just such a special show for me because I got to do the pilot and that crew is like no other crew in terms of when you go there you feel like you are at home,” Lee explained to PopCulture.com. “I mean they take so much pride in that show that the crew from Hawaii… I mean they absolutely have this family atmosphere and it’s one of those shows I always love going back to, cause I have so much fun with that character.”

Lee noted that the producers let him improvise on the set, creating a character who is unforgettable for fans.

“They give me so much freedom to… just really take it to places they may never make the [final cut]. Probably make the blooper reels, but I get to go there and I rarely get to do that,” Lee said. “So yeah, I’d always love to go back.”

The Hawaii Five-0 reboot launched in 2010 and, like many crime dramas, has seen members of its cast come and go. In the Season 10 premiere last week, Jorge Garcia’s Special Consultant Jerry Ortega left the team, making room for a new character, Katrina Law’s Quinn Liu.

While Lee waits for a callback from the Hawaii Five-0 producers, he has plenty of projects to keep him busy. He plays Dr. Alex Park on ABC‘s The Good Doctor and he recently filmed an entire trilogy of movies back-to-back called Rogue Warfare, co-starring Stephen Lang. The first film was released on Video On Demand and in limited theaters on Friday. The movies were directed by prolific stuntman and second unit director Mike Gunther. Lee called it an “intense shoot.”

“This was kind of [Gunther’s] foray into directing. And so I wanted to be a part of it and there was a lot of guns, a lot of toys and a lot of running around and the hundred-degree weather,” Lee said. “But yeah, it was fun.”

Lee also recently recorded dialogue for Wish Dragon, an animated film co-produced by Sony Animation and China’s Tencent Pictures. The all-star cast includes John Cho, Constance Wu and Jackie Chan. Unfortunately, Lee said he did not get to meet Chan.

“I think it was such a secretive project,” Lee said of Wish Dragon. “All I heard was Constance Wu and Jackie Chan were in it and when I heard Jackie Chan was in it, I was like, I have to do this. And luckily they called and I got to do it and I never got to see Jackie Chan. So that was disappointing. But I guess that’s how animation goes.”

Hawaii Five-0 airs Fridays at 8 p.m. ET on CBS, while The Good Doctor airs Mondays at 10 p.m. ET.

Photo credit: Norman Shapiro/CBS