The star of two under-rated shows-- Moonlight and Three Rivers-- O'Loughlin gets to be Steve McGarrett, originally played by Jack Lord, in the police reboot. Kim gets the role of Chin Ho Kelly, originally played by Kam Fong.
The report on TVGuide.com, though sparse, sounds like it's going to be a full reboot, not a next-generation continuation as some of the previous snippets sounded to be.
O'Loughlin is a strong actor even in Complex roles like that of a relatively young vampire in Moonlight, or as a technical and broken doctor in Three Rivers, but he seems to be gaining a bit of the Nathan Fillion Curse-- two perfectly good shows that weren't given the space they needed to make it. Maybe it's just a run of bad luck, and after all, two isn't yet a pattern, but it's something to watch out for. Maybe he'll buck the trend as Nathan Fillion did himself with Castle.
Kim has proven his depth and strength in Lost over the past six years, and in Buffy and various others before that, and his shows have been more successful, though as he's not generally a lead actor, that's probably more luck or good choice of rolls than anything else, but maybe his luck will make this reboot work.
As long as they keep the theme song.
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