[Editor’s note: The following contains some spoilers for Rescue: HI-Surf.]

Summary

Airing on Fox, ‘Rescue: HI-Surf’ showcases intense, dangerous lifeguard work on the North Shore of Hawaii, tackling both physical and emotional challenges.

Actor Adam Demos discusses the rigorous training and preparation for realistic water scenes on the show.

The season ending includes a cliffhanger that will leave viewers wondering about the future direction of the characters.

In the Fox series Rescue: HI-Surf, the high-stakes adrenaline-fueled work of a lifeguard saves lives, but often under life-threatening conditions. This group of first responders patrols and protects the North Shore of O’ahu in Hawaii, ready to deal with anything thrown their way. Under the leadership of Captain Sonny Jennings (Robbie Magasiva), the lifeguards learn the importance of respecting the ocean and each other, but that doesn’t stop them from also getting personally entangled.
During this one-on-one interview with Collider, Adam Demos, who plays Aussie surfer and lifeguard Will Ready, talked about his excitement over working with this creative team, the extent of the training and preparation they went through to keep things as real as possible, cast bonding, filming the water scenes, his most challenging moment to shoot, navigating the dynamic between Will and Em (Arielle Kebbel), the team’s lieutenant, and the cliffhanger that will make viewers wonder what’s next.
‘Rescue: HI-Surf’ Is the Most Physically Demanding Job Adam Demos Has Ever Done

“You don’t realize how intense the water stuff really is.”

Image via Fox

Collider: When this came your way, what were you most excited about and what were you most nervous about? How did you wrap your head around what you’d have to do for this? Were you even fully prepared for that?
ADAM DEMOS: No, probably not. What was I excited about? To work on a show that’s run by John Wells because he’s a legend. To be able to work with someone of his caliber was really exciting. And then, with Matt Kester, our showrunner who created it, his passion for the North Shore and wanting to tell these stories and represent the people of the North Shore that he loves so dearly was infectious. That’s what was exciting. I think I assumed I knew what I was getting myself into, but you don’t realize how intense the water stuff really is. It’s the most physically demanding job I’ve done, for sure. But what comes with that is that it’s pretty rewarding when you get to watch on screen and know that you did it. The nerves come from just wanting to make sure I look legit. You’re telling these stories of these people, and they’re supposed to be the best of the best, so you don’t wanna look like you’re cooking it a little bit. So, it was more just making sure I was listening and getting the training in and making it look authentic.
And there are levels of experience for these characters. You’re not the new guy who’s there and who can mess up because you’re not sure what you’re doing.
DEMOS: Yeah. It’s not like it is for Alex [Aiono], who can mess up a little bit and then get better and better and better. We’re seasoned lifeguards, so there was no room for error there. But luckily, we had the best training and best people around us. I think we pulled it off.
Were you relieved that you didn’t have to worry about a different accent on top of everything else, or would you have been game to do an accent for the show?
DEMOS: I’m always game. It’s always good to mix it up a little bit. There was a little bit of improvising. When you’re in the water and the waves are coming from different directions, you’re still in the scene and the currents are changing in the wind, and you’re actually dragging someone on the board of the jet ski. It’s easier to improvise when you’re doing your own accent. It takes one element of the stress away.
Did you ever have to worry about coming across a shark while you were in the water?
DEMOS: We had people looking out for us. We had a drone watching over at all times, so they wouldn’t send us out. That makes you feel pretty safe. We’re pretty well looked after. We were as safe as you can get. It was more looking out for tourists swimming and making sure they were okay. We were very safe and very well looked after. You try not to think about it until after the fact, but the fact that we had the drone always watching out was a really great safety measure.

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We’ve seen some lifeguard shows before, but they’ve tended to be more about the drama and the slow-motion shots of people running in bathing suits. This show feels very real and very intense. What did you have to do to get yourself there, not just physically, but mentally?
DEMOS: We spent the first few weeks training with the best lifeguards and watermen in Hawaii and listened to their stories and how they approach rescues and getting into the mindset of those guys. And then, it’s pretty easy to switch into gear when you’re actually out in the elements. There’s no set and there’s no water tanks. We were far out in the ocean. You can’t help but be right there, present in the moment, and be switched on with your adrenaline pumping. There’s not that much acting required when it comes to the water stuff because you’ve gotta be safe and protect yourself. Also, any time there was a technical thing, we had advisors all around, so you could just turn to them and ask. It was good to be able to have those guys right there.
Because of everything going on with this show, how do you describe it to people?
DEMOS: I describe it as being about the elite watermen of the North Shore, the lifeguards, and it really showcases how intense and dangerous their job really is. People hear lifeguard and they think of a pool or the beach. You don’t realize and don’t know until you get to the North Shore that these guys are heroes. They think about themselves last and they’re always putting other people before themselves. They’re so brave. But that part of the show can only be sustained for so long, if you don’t have the characters. You have to invest in the characters, too. The action stuff is legit, but you’ll also be invested in the personal life of the characters. That’s what’s gonna keep people there.
Being a lifeguard is a high-pressure and high-stakes situation. These characters not only have to always be alert, they have to be ready for anything because it’s always life or death, so they have to seamlessly work together. What was it like to not only figure that out for yourself and prepare yourself to do this, but to also figure out how to do it as an ensemble?
DEMOS: We block it beforehand on the beach. The doubles would come help to demonstrate it and we had an incredible water team that would show us how it would happen. We’re dealing with men and women that have done this in real life and have done real rescues, so they’ll say, “Oh, this is exactly what I did some years ago.” As a cast, we just listened to those guys. We have the people who do this for a living there, so you just have to refer to that. That’s why it looks pretty authentic when you watch it back.
Did that cast chemistry come pretty quickly?
DEMOS: Oh, yeah. You bond very quickly when you’re in a show like this and you’re in the elements together. That could be a recipe for really not liking someone or really getting along. We were fortunate that we all just really got along. We all bonded over the experience and felt like we had achieved something. We worked our butts off, and we feel proud and like we achieved something pretty special. It could have gone the other way, but being able to work that intensely in the elements together, it bonded us super quick. We’re all so close now, which is very cool.
Working in the Ocean for ‘Rescue: HI-Surf’ Is Unpredictable and Always Changing

“It’s hard work, but it’s rewarding.”

Image via Fox

What is it like to film the ocean scenes?
DEMOS: We’ll get there in the morning and the water team will go out and look at the currents and the swells, which are forever changing. They have to check when the winds are coming, and then we block it. We had our DP in the water. He would jump straight in there and guide you a lot. There was a lot of blocking and a lot of rehearsal out in the water. You have to have the ability to change on the fly because a freak set can come out of nowhere and, all of a sudden, you’ve gotta bail. You can’t just time the waves completely perfect. You really do have to be in the moment. You wouldn’t want that any other way because it’s gritty and real, as it would be. But when you’re doing a rescue out in the ocean, especially a swimming one, and you’ve gotta get it from all these different angles, you’re physically fatigued, for sure. I’ve never done a real-life rescue myself because I’m not brave enough, but they are fatigued and they’re filled with adrenaline to get the job done. It’s hard work, but it’s rewarding. A plan only lasts so long in the ocean. That’s why they put us through training. We’re all very capable in the water. It also taught us how to read the ocean and really be alert. You can’t have a lapse in judgment at all out there.
Did anything ever go as planned?
DEMOS: It never really went exactly how it was supposed to. Sometimes it was pretty as planned, but not entirely. The wind would always change on you and you’d have to think on the fly. We were always safe and always aware, and we got it done.
What was the most challenging scene, either physically or technically, that you did during the season?
DEMOS: For me, personally, there was a rescue I did where I had to grab someone, put him on the board, send him in, and then swim back out because I heard a girl screaming, and grabbed her and came back in. By the time you’ve done angles and wides, just the pure exertion and the amount of energy that you’ve used out there in the water, it’s tough. It was always easy and fun on the jet ski because you’re not really burning any energy. It’s the swimming ones that really get you. But I feel like they’re the coolest ones to watch because you can see how exhausted I am and that’s real. I’ve probably had to do that rescue 20 times.

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Did they try to set up the days so that you’d do all the water stuff at once, and then all the stuff back on land separately?
DEMOS: It started like that. Luckily, Fox really likes the show and they ordered more episodes, but towards the end, we’d do on split days where you’d go to a water unit, and then, all of a sudden, the land unit would need you. It definitely got you out of your head, so maybe that helped. They tried to stagger it as best as they could, but as we got busier and busier, we had to do a few split days that that could have been tough. They were always taking care of us, so there was never any major drama.
You don’t get good drama on a TV shows without some romantic tension. We get some of that with Will and Em because of their history. What was that like to navigate?
DEMOS: He’s working side by side with the love of his life, and he’s tried to move on. That was really cool about playing this role. It wasn’t just the rescues. We were playing the conflict of trying to settle down and loving this person, but being in love with this person that you work with. And then, you set that against the backdrop of high-stakes and high-adrenaline. There’s just a lot going down and it adds a different level of dynamic. I thought it was cool to be able to play that conflict of what your heart wants over what your head wants. And then, you put that into a contained lifeguard tower or the two of them on a jet ski, and that was really interesting to play.
‘Rescue: HI-Surf’s Adam Demos Feels Lucky To Have Arielle Kebbel Steering the Ship

“Talk about a great leader to have on set.”

What was it like to find that with Arielle Kebbel?
DEMOS: She’s a seasoned pro and she’s just so cool. I don’t think anyone could have played that role but her. She worked harder than all of us. Talk about a great leader to have on set. She had more scenes and did more water work than anyone, and she still was the happiest and most grateful to be there, out of anyone. She’s so cool. We all got really lucky that she was the one leading the ship for us.
What do you most enjoy about your character’s journey over this first season?
DEMOS: The more it goes on, the more you start to learn about his past and about why he acts the way he does. The later you get into the season, you really discover a lot of stuff that maybe he was not hiding, but that hadn’t come up yet. Up against the adversity and struggle of heart over head, you learn more about him and he becomes a lot more open and vulnerable. It’s so cool to be able to play that in that many layers. Matt would give me an overall idea, but to see the scenes and to learn more about him, I was excited. It just keeps everyone on their toes and invested.

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Kebbel also talks about what it’s like to shoot the ocean scenes when you’re at the mercy of unpredictable weather.

When you spend all this time in the water, which is more time than you probably ever imagined you would be spending in the water, do you just want to take a break from the water once you’re done filming?
DEMOS: Yes, absolutely. I took a holiday to the mountains and the closest I got to the water was a waterfall. The ocean is cool. I grew up near the ocean in Australia and you go there every day, when it’s on your terms. After doing 10–12-hour days in the water for work, as great as it was, I just wanted to hike and get out in nature to recharge. On the weekends, I wasn’t out surfing or anything. I was chilling out in the air conditioning and relaxing.
By the time we get to the end of the season, is there a cliffhanger?
DEMOS: Yeah, there’s a huge one that involves all of us. There’s a real moment for Will, and you don’t know where or how it’s gonna end up. I’ll just leave it at that. It will leave you going, “Oh, wow, where does he go from here?”
What is not knowing like for you, as the actor?
DEMOS: It’s cool. It’s great. I’m smart enough to know that I’m not smart enough to be a writer on this show. Whatever they give me, I’ll be stoked. I’m sure whatever they will come up with is better than what my imagination can come up with. We’ll wait and see.

Rescue: HI-Surf

Release Date

September 22, 2024

Network

FOX

Directors

John Wells, Loren Yaconelli, Avi Youabian, Sherwin Shilati, Kevin Berlandi

Writers

Carly Woodworth

Arielle Kebbel

Emily Wright

Rescue: HI-Surf airs on Fox. Check out this behind-the-scenes look: