Hawaii Five-0 began production for Season 7 with a traditional Hawaiian blessing.  Kahu Kordell Kekoa presided over the ceremony and began by citing the significance of the number “7” in the Bible.   He brought tea leaves to symbolize healing, nourishment, and safety in the new season.

Present at the bright and early 6:15 call time were Executive Producer Peter Lenkov and actors Dennis Chun, Teilor Grubbs, Daniel Dae Kim, Chi McBride, Alex O’Loughlin, and Grace Park.  Hawaii News Now reporter Billy V was also on hand for the annual event, which took place on  beautiful Waikiki Beach.

Lenkov began by welcoming everyone to “such a beloved custom,” emphasizing “Clearly, this is very meaningful to us.  Thank you for such a great season last year, and thank you ahead of time for a great season this year.”

For those who want to know what the cast has been doing during hiatus, here’s the dish.  As widely reported, Kim was a fixture at New York’s Lincoln Theatre starring in The King and I.  When asked about the experience, he had this to say, “I think there’s a different spirit to the place.  New York has a lot of energy.  It’s very go, go, go.  Hawaii has an ambition too, but it’s much more, for me, peaceful and beautiful and in harmony with nature.  They’re very different, and it’s nice to be able to experience both.”  Chun chimed in, “To be born here and to be able to take this to the world is a humbling responsibility.  We realize we are representing this to the world, and it’s an honor and a privilege.”  McBride spent the summer “like a tick with my family.  We went to New York.  We went to see Daniel do his thing.  He crushed it.”  O’Loughlin also spent time away from Hawaii – in France.  He commented, “I feel very relaxed and ready to work.  I’m very happy to be here.”

He also teased about the well-known Danny/McGarrett conflict continuing into the new season.  Lenkov teased, “The season starts off with this arc that’s going to introduce a new villain, very different from the villians we’ve had in the past.  Somebody’s gonna require us to go outside to get help cos it’s a very complicated case.  That’s gonna take place over the first four episodes.  Then, it’s gonna arc out over the rest of the season.  We usually do a Halloween episode that people love.  We’re doing one of those.  Everybody wants Kono and Adam to be back together.  That’s coming very soon.  Danny and McGarrett are connected even closer together over this liver (transplant for McGarrett).  That’s going to be fun to see how they deal with that.  We’ve got some great stories coming out, and I’m excited.”

There’s no word yet on a seventh Sunset on the Beach.  Season 7 premieres September 23 at 9 P.M. on CBS.