Inside the High-Stakes World of ‘Rescue: HI-Surf,’ Fox’s New Lifeguard Drama
Preview
A towering wave on Oahu’s North Shore threatens to engulf gutsy Honolulu County lifeguard Emily “Em” Wright (Arielle Kebbel, 9-1-1) in the opener of the new action drama Rescue: HI-Surf, premiering September 22 on Fox. She’s clinging to a rescue sled being pulled by a jet ski, using her body to shield an unconscious victim. If she can’t outrace the powerful water to make it to shore and revive him, he’ll die.
The scene is Kebbel’s favorite that she’s shot so far in this series about a lifeguard team making seemingly impossible rescues and navigating choppy personal lives in their dream gig protecting Hawaii’s world-famous beach. It’s from executive producer John Wells, developer of such lauded and grittily realistic “work family” series about first responders as ER and Southland.
“That was week one of filming, on one of the biggest days we had at Pipeline. That’s not CGI. That’s me,” she says. “Part of the audition process was they asked me, ‘Are you ready for this?’ And I was like, ‘Hell, yeah!’ I got here and I was like, ‘Oh my God, am I ready?’”
The actress wasn’t just thrown into the deep end. The cast trained with jet ski rescue pioneers Brian Keaulana and Terry Ahue for three weeks before cameras rolled. Water shoots have a perimeter of seven to 10 jet skis driven by lifeguards, and one or two marine support boats.
Like the iconic lifeguard hit Baywatch, there’s plenty of bravery on the show, but Rescue focuses less on beauty. “John Wells said to us in the beginning, ‘We won’t take time for hair and makeup,’” Kebbel reports.
Executive producer and writer Matt Kester grew up surfing on the North Shore and based the characters on locals, something that appealed to Wells. “We wanted to show the real people of Hawaii, the sense of the community that Matt has lived in,” he says. “They choose to go into the ocean when it’s dangerous, to go in there to try and help somebody.”
Em is the island’s first female lifeguard lieutenant. The beach patrol is dominated by guys like her boss, tough Sonny (Robbie Magasiva), who’s grieving his nephew’s death, for which he blames himself. “For a lot of individuals he’s based on, the mental toll of the job can sneak up on you,” Kester says. “The physical toll is anticipated.” Em’s his second-in-command, but she’s ambitious and always has an eye on his job. “I look up to him as a dad or an uncle,” Kebbel says. “There’s other times where he is definitely my boss.”
Also in the tower is Em’s ex, Will Ready (Adam Demos), now engaged to someone else. “He’s clearly still in love with her,” Demos says. “Em’s doing something not many females in that industry have ever done. She’s brave, courageous and has a huge heart. She’s more badass than the rest of us.” Kebbel adds, “We’re supercharged when we’re together. That’s part of the romance, but also part of the problem. It’s a will-they-or-won’t-they the entire season. Other people come into play to complicate that. Things happen unexpectedly that either bring us together or rip us farther apart.”
Kekoa Kekumano and Robbie Magasiva in Rescue: Hi-Surf (Zack Dougan / FOX)
Will is close friends with confident, funny Laka (Kekoa Kekumano, who read for the part while he was employed as a lifeguard at Oahu’s Kaimana Beach). “Kekoa brings a level of comfort to everyone on set—confirming that this is what you would do [in a rescue],” Kester says.
Rounding out the team are two hyper-competitive rookies. Working-class Hina (Zoe Cipres) grew up with the beach as her babysitter and clashes with rich boy Kainalu (Alex Aiono), who she thinks got the coveted North Shore tower assignment due to his dad’s political connections. Wells hints the pair could get romantic. Hey, close quarters during long shifts will do that to you.
The cast is on the day shift, which shoots from sunup to sundown on location, not in studios. “This is the only show I’ve ever worked on where we have a shark delay and a whale delay,” says Wells, who directed the first two episodes. “A big old humpback decided to get pretty interested in what we were doing. We stopped and sat on the edge of the boat and watched the whale.”
Curious cetaceans aside, the gripping rescue scenarios are all based on actual events as related to Kester by big wave surfers and lifeguards. And though the cast may get mistaken for guards, they know the show’s real star. “Our number one diva is the ocean,” Kebbel says. “She changes her mind every second of the day, and the moment you get an ego, it’s over.”
Rescue: HI-Surf, Series Premiere Sunday, September 22, 8/7c Fox
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