Lost star Daniel Dae Kim placed a preliminary plea of not guilty on Friday in regards to his drunken driving arrest on October 25 of this year. The thirty nine year old actor was arrested early in the morning of October 25 for driving under the influence of alcohol. He was taken in to a local police station, and was released on bail within a few hours. The not guilty plea is interesting, given that Kim had issued an apology to his fans and locals for his actions. Kim did not appear at the arraignment with his attorney, who entered the not guilty plea and asked for a trial date.
Daniel Dae Kim's license was revoked on November 16 for six months, which means ABC will have to pay someone to chauffeur Kim to and from the Lost set every day. This is, of course, not the first time a Lost cast member has been caught driving under the influence. Both Michelle Rodriguez and Cynthia Watros were booked with drunken driving charges on the same night in 2005. The two actresses were subsequently killed off on Lost, leading to speculation that the DUI arrests angered Lost producers, who retaliated by writing the characters off the show. This has never been confirmed, however. Adewale Akinnuoye Agbaje, who played Mr. Eko on Lost, was arrested for a traffic violation where he was caught driving without a license and disobeyed police officers. Mr. Eko was killed off soon after.
Daniel Dae Kim, who plays Jin-Soo Kwon on Lost, is much more of an established actor on lose and is not expected to be written off the show (unless the writers had already planned on it, that is). The fourth season of Lost is set to premiere on ABC early 2008.