Pride of Maui Local Travel Blog
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Top 20 TV Shows Filmed in Hawaii
Last updated: August 20, 2026
Hawaii has been one of Hollywood’s favorite backlots for the better part of a century, and while the movies tend to get the glory, television is where the islands have really put in the hours. Six seasons of plane crash survivors. Two different private investigators in two different Ferraris, thirty years apart. There’s an entire fictional resort chain in here, and a lifeguard show that packed up Los Angeles and moved to Honolulu for its last two seasons.
We already covered the Top 20 Movies Filmed in Hawaii so consider this the companion piece. Some of these shows you have absolutely seen. One or two you may have deliberately blocked out. All of them turned real, findable places on Oʻahu, Maui, Kauaʻi, and Hawaiʻi Island into somewhere else entirely, whether that was a mysterious island, a Vietnamese jungle, or the Amazon basin.
Below you will find all twenty, where each one was actually shot, and a link to the show’s IMDb page if you want to go deeper. If you are the kind of traveler who builds a stop into the itinerary because something was filmed there, this list is for you.
A surprising number of these productions never left one island. Oʻahu does most of the heavy lifting in Hawaii television, largely because the Hawaii Film Studio in Honolulu and Kualoa Ranch on the windward side can between them cover almost anything a script asks for.
Maui, Kauaʻi, and the Big Island get their moments too, and we have flagged exactly where.
The critically acclaimed The White Lotus is a black comedy-drama anthology series where each season is set at a different resort hotel within the fictional White Lotus chain. Each season is a mostly self-contained, week-long story about the guests and staff at a single hotel in a particular part of the world.
Season one was shot almost entirely at the Four Seasons Resort Maui at Wailea, on Maui’s south shore, which played the White Lotus Maui. Filming ran from October to December 2020, and because of pandemic protocols the cast and crew quarantined on the property for the duration, so very little of the season was shot anywhere else on the island. Wailea Beach, directly in front of the resort, is the main exterior. If you want to walk the rest of that stretch of coast, our guide to things to do in Wailea covers the neighborhood.
Co-created, produced by, and starring Jason Momoa, Chief of War tells the story of the unification of the Hawaiian Islands largely in ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi. It follows Kaʻiana, a chief raised on Kauaʻi who became the first aliʻi to travel abroad and came home with a rare grasp of Western weapons and trade. That made him a pūkaua, a war leader, in the campaign by Kamehameha I to bring the islands under a single rule. Where that loyalty ends up is the show’s story to tell.
Mostly, not in Hawaii. Roughly eighty percent of the series was shot in New Zealand, where the Bay of Islands doubled for eighteenth-century Hawaii, for reasons of production economics rather than scenery. The Hawaii shoot still made history: state film officials say it was the first major television production to film on all four of the main islands, Oʻahu, Maui, Kauaʻi, and Hawaiʻi Island, including the Kaimū and Kalapana lava fields of lower Puna on the Big Island in late 2022. If that four-island spread has you wondering where to start, we break it down in which Hawaii island you should visit.
The black sheep of the MCU, Inhumans tells the story of a super-powered race who lives on the moon. After a coup, the Inhuman Royal Family flees the moon and lands in Hawaii, where they must protect themselves while they save the Earth.
Although both critics and viewers widely panned it, the show certainly featured a lot of beautiful spots on Oʻahu.
Filming began in March 2017 in downtown Honolulu, with stage work at Kalaeloa, the former Naval Air Station Barbers Point airfield. Other Oʻahu locations include Diamond Head Crater, Makapuʻu Beach, Kaʻaʻawa Valley at Kualoa Ranch, and the Hawaiʻi State Capitol.
In this classic sitcom, the crew and passengers of the S.S. Minnow depart Honolulu on a “three-hour tour” and are shipwrecked on an unknown island. Unfortunately for them, the hapless first mate Willy Gilligan unwittingly (yet hilariously) thwarts their attempts to be rescued week after week.
Most of Gilligan’s Island was shot at CBS Studio Center in Los Angeles, where the lagoon was a man-made pond on the backlot. The Hawaii footage lives in the pilot and the opening credits: the shipwreck and beach material was filmed at Moloaʻa Beach on Kauaʻi, and the island you see in the opening titles is Coconut Island (Moku o Loʻe) in Kāneʻohe Bay off Oʻahu.
Tom Selleck’s iconic character, Thomas Sullivan Magnum IV, lives in the guest house of a lavish oceanfront estate called Robin’s Nest in exchange for his services as a private investigator. The series was rebooted in 2018 as part of a connected universe with fellow reboots Hawaii Five-0 and MacGyver.
Both versions filmed on Oʻahu. In the original, Robin’s Nest was played by the Anderson estate on the island’s east side near Waimānalo Beach, next to the Pāhonu fishpond. Unfortunately for Magnum fans, the house is gone: built in 1933, it had fallen into disrepair and was demolished in April 2018.
The 2018 reboot shot its pilot in early 2018 at the Hawaii Film Studio and continued at Kalaeloa. Its Robin’s Nest is a different animal entirely, largely computer generated and modeled on an oceanfront property in Kāneʻohe, with Kualoa Ranch supplying background plates, the Lanikuhonua Cultural Institute standing in for the oceanside gazebo, and the Banyan House covering interiors and the driveway. Other locations include Māʻili, Waikīkī, Kapolei, and the La Mariana Sailing Club in Honolulu.
A pop culture phenomenon, LOST is a science-fiction-mystery-supernatural-thriller-drama that follows a group of plane crash survivors stranded on an unknown island with many secrets. It ran for six seasons plus the Missing Pieces webisodes and The New Man in Charge epilogue, and almost all of it was filmed on Oʻahu.
Oʻahu, top to bottom. The pilot crash site was Mokulēʻia Beach on the North Shore, the survivors’ beach camp was Papailoa Beach nearby, and Kaʻaʻawa Valley at Kualoa Ranch covered much of the island’s interior. YMCA Camp Erdman played the Dharma Initiative barracks, Waimea Valley provided the waterfall where Kate and Sawyer find the briefcase, and Sacred Hearts Academy in Honolulu was the church in the finale. Cave scenes were shot on a sound stage built inside a Xerox parts warehouse before stage work moved to the Hawaii Film Studio in 2006.
Several urban areas in and around Honolulu also stood in for locations all over the world, including New York, Iowa, South Korea, Iraq, Paris, Thailand, and Australia.
A modern take on the 1973 novel of the same name, this slasher series debuted in 2021. It traded the novel’s fictional town of Silver Springs, New Mexico for somewhere considerably more tropical and set the whole thing in Hawaii.
The series was filmed on Oʻahu, with production beginning in January 2021. It is the one entry on this list without a proper location trail: unlike almost everything else here, the specific sites the production used were never widely published, so what you can say for certain is the island and the dates.
Based on the similarly named Doogie Howser, M.D. from 1989, this series focuses on child prodigy medical doctor Lahela “Doogie” Kameāloha. The show was developed by Kourtney Kang, who decided to set it in Hawaii to reflect her own background.
Filming began in late 2020 in Honolulu, with key locations including Waimānalo, ‘Iolani Palace, and the Duke Kahanamoku Statue in Waikiki.
The massive hit series Baywatch followed a group of lifeguards with a star-studded cast including David Hasslehoff and Pamela Anderson. The first nine seasons of its eleven-season run took place on the beaches of Los Angeles County before moving to Honolulu for its last two seasons, dubbed Baywatch: Hawaii.
From 1999 to 2001, both Hawaii seasons were filmed on location with a local production crew. Locations included Oʻahu’s North Shore, Waikīkī, the Hawaii Film Studio, and Kauaʻi.
The massively popular Love Island USA has spawned several spin-offs and showcased some absolutely stunning locations in Fiji, California, and for its third season, Hawaii.
Season three was shot at the Waterfalling Estate, an 11,000 square foot private villa perched on the Hāmākua Coast in Nīnole, on Hawaiʻi Island. The villa offers panoramic ocean views and a crystal-clear river that winds through the property before cascading into its own private waterfall.
The fourth series in the television juggernaut that is the NCIS franchise, this spin-off (like many other entries on this list) is set on Oʻahu. It follows Jane Tennant, the first female Special Agent in Charge of NCIS Pearl Harbor, and her team of special agents.
Filming began on the North Shore in June 2021, then moved to Joint Base Pearl Harbor–Hickam. Other locations include Honolulu, Chinatown, Waikīkī Beach, and Kualoa Ranch, with indoor scenes usually shot at the Hawaii Film Studio in Honolulu.
A similar case to Magnum, P.I., both the classic Hawaii Five-O and its 2010 reboot were filmed on location in Hawaii, primarily on Oʻahu.
The original used Pearl City, Fort Ruger, ʻIolani Palace, and Diamond Head, as well as several Big Island locations including Kona, Hilo, and Volcanoes National Park.
For the 2010 reboot, Five-0 headquarters is played by the historic Ali‘iōlani Hale in downtown Honolulu, commissioned by King Kamehameha V and completed in 1874. Other key sites include the Hawaii Film Studio, Kualoa Ranch, the Bayer Estate, Waikīkī, and a long list of places in and around Honolulu.
The first three episodes of Season 4 of The Brady Bunch have carved out their own special place in the annals of sitcom history. They form a short arc in which the Bradys vacation in Hawaii and Bobby finds a small tiki idol that seems to trigger one catastrophe after another. Guest stars include Don Ho, Patrick Adiarte of M*A*S*H and the incomparable Vincent Price.
The three-episode arc aired in September 1972 and was filmed primarily on Oʻahu, with key scenes at the Sheraton Waikiki, Kuhio Beach, and various other spots around the island.
Widely popular in the 2000s, this series followed the eponymous Duane “Dog” Chapman and his experiences as a bounty hunter. The series almost exclusively took place in Hawaii or in his home state of Colorado.
The show filmed in many locations throughout Hawaii, mainly on Oʻahu and the Big Island, including Honolulu, Hawaiʻi Kai, and several Big Island towns. Da Kine Bail Bonds, the office of the Chapman family business, is in downtown Honolulu, and there was also a branch in Kailua-Kona.
If Fantasy Island doesn’t sound familiar to you, you’ve probably at least heard someone at some point shout “De plane! De plane!” The classic original series starred Ricardo Montalbán as Mr. Roarke and guests to his island were granted their fantasies for an often unexpected price.
Here is the twist most people do not expect: the original series was not really filmed in Hawaii at all. Mr. Roarke’s white mansion is the Queen Anne Cottage at the Los Angeles County Arboretum in Arcadia, California, and the seaplane landed on the Arboretum’s Baldwin Lake. Hawaii shows up only in the scenery, with the Nā Pali Coast and Wailua Falls on Kauaʻi used for opening shots, plus some b-roll from the Coco Palms Resort.
The 1998 revival, which starred Malcolm McDowell as Mr. Roarke, is the one that genuinely used Hawaii. Mr. Roarke’s estate was played by the Hāna-Maui Resort at the far end of the Road to Hana, and additional sequences were shot at sites across Maui, Kauaʻi, and Oʻahu.
This military drama series tells the story of an American infantry platoon during the Vietnam War. Only the first season was filmed in Hawaii with Oʻahu’s rain forests and stunning landscapes playing the role of the Vietnamese jungle. Filming began in 1987 at the 17,725-acre Schofield Barracks, near Wahiawā.
Only the first season was filmed in Hawaii, with Oʻahu’s rainforests and ridgelines standing in for the Vietnamese jungle. Production began in 1987 at Schofield Barracks, the 17,725-acre Army installation near Wahiawā. Later seasons moved to the mainland.
The eighth season of MTV’s hit reality TV series was located in Hawaii and thus dubbed The Real World: Hawaii.
The seven cast members lived in a roughly 4,000 square foot beach house on Diamond Head Road in Diamond Head on Oʻahu, with the production crew set up in the property’s guest house. Fans of the show will not be able to visit, though: both buildings were torn down in early 2008.
An intense tale of espionage, mystery, and conspiracy, Last Resort follows the crew of the USS Colorado as they fight, survive, and try to clear their names after being branded enemies of their own country.
Much of the plot centers on the fictional island of Sainte Marina, which was built out of various locations across Oʻahu. The production also made heavy use of the Hawaii Film Studio in Honolulu.
From Oren Peli of Paranormal Activity fame, The River is a supernatural found-footage horror series centered on the search and rescue of Dr. Emmet Cole, a beloved nature show host who disappeared while searching for magic in the Amazon basin.
The pilot was filmed in Puerto Rico, but the rest of the series was produced on Oʻahu. Notable sites include Ahupuaʻa O Kahana State Park, formerly Kahana Valley, and Kualoa Ranch, both of which were dressed to stand in for the Amazon rainforest.
This reality series brought real graduating classes back together for their twenty-year reunions and flew them to Hawaii, introducing each cast member under the label they carried in high school, such as The Jock and The Skate Punk. Twenty years is exactly long enough for everyone involved to still have something to prove.
Two seasons were shot in Hawaii, and they split between islands. The state film office lists the first season on Maui and the second on Oʻahu, using resorts, beaches, and restaurants around each island rather than one fixed home base. When the format was revived years later it left Hawaii entirely for Las Vegas, Arizona, and Texas.
Twenty is a hard number to hold. Flight 29 Down, a teen drama about a group of kids stranded after a plane crash, was shot at Mokulēʻia Beach on Oʻahu’s North Shore, the same sand where LOST staged its crash a year earlier. Rescue: HI-Surf put Oʻahu’s North Shore lifeguards on network television in 2024. And the short-lived 2004 NBC drama Hawaii came and went so quickly that most people who lived through it have forgotten it existed. The state’s official production list runs to hundreds of titles if you want to go down that particular rabbit hole.
From mystery in lush rainforests and drama in luxurious resorts and private estates to edge-of-your-seat action in bustling cities, Hawaiʻi’s scenery and its people have been on television for more than 60 years, and there is no sign of that slowing down.
A lot of Hawaii on screen is really a handful of very hardworking places. Kualoa Ranch has been the Amazon, a Vietnamese jungle, an island of secrets, and a dinosaur paddock. The Hawaii Film Studio in Honolulu has hosted half this list.
A lot of these places also look completely different from the water than they do from the road. If you are heading to Maui and want that vantage point, our Molokini snorkel and boat tours run daily out of Māʻalaea Harbor. And if you have not read it yet, the Top 20 Movies Filmed in Hawaii is the other half of this story.
