Epic battles, fractured loyalties, and the looming shadow of colonial powers converge in “Chief of War,” Apple TV+’s sweeping historical saga told mainly in the Hawaiian language. Led by Jason Momoa as Ka’iana — and co-created by Momoa with Thomas Pa’a Sibbett — the series reframes Hawai’i’s unification through the eyes of a warrior-exile who has seen the outside world and warns that internal conflict pales against what’s coming. A decade-in-the-making passion project for Momoa, who also serves as executive producer, the show’s first season reaches its finale September 19 on Apple TV+. The ensemble includes Temuera Morrison, Cliff Curtis, Luciane Buchanan, Te Ao o Hinepehinga, and more.
For Momoa, the project isn’t just performance but a complete immersion in cinematic storytelling. He admitted he feels more at home shaping images than delivering dialogue. “I’m 100% on the cinematic side of things. As an actor, I’d rather strip away dialogue and tell it with images. Both of my parents were painters. The version of me as a director is completely different than the version of me as an actor,” he explained.
Momoa joined The Playlist’s Bingeworthy podcast to discuss the series and explained why the story had to come through Ka’iana rather than the more familiar King Kamehameha. “There wasn’t a movie about our tribal stories. Ka’iana was the way in, a man who’s seen the world and comes back saying, ‘We can’t fight each other; what’s coming is bigger than us.’ That’s powerful.” In framing the saga through a lesser-known figure, Momoa wanted a lens that could touch on Kamehameha, Ka’ahumanu, and others without turning any one leader into a myth. “How can we just touch on a little bit of it and follow one character that no one knows too much about, but actually still has a lot of weight and has traveled?”
Getting an Indigenous, Hawaiian-language epic required timing and trust. “When you’ve done three seasons of ‘See,’ you’re in with great producers… then Apple trusts you to make a show with a language that’s never been done before on that level, with actors who haven’t really [done anything like it]. It was a Hail Mary. It needed to wait for the right time in my career, and we’re there.” Even for a native son, the language work was no layup. “I am Kanaka Maoli, and it was the hardest language work I’ve ever done. There are many different dialects per island. I’m just excited to get a little Hawai’i out there. We kicked down the door so we can tell more.”
On the finale’s volcanic war-drum, which Momoa himself directed, Momoa says the most challenging part wasn’t the battle, it was getting buy-in to run it his way. “It was harder to convince people I could pull it off with five units than actually doing it. We built a road over lava, got hundreds of extras out there, shot at four in the morning, and ran night into blue light so the ash reads, because that’s what happened in real life. We packed it into eight days, units running simultaneously, so every character sits in the same light. I could see it, and then we did.”
Where does the series land between museum-grade accuracy and big-screen mythmaking? Momoa pegs it “about an eight.” “We moved timelines. Some things didn’t happen that fast. It’s not the History Channel—we’re making a series. You can pick up a book and read all this stuff; you’ll know it happens across seasons. We did some creative choices… it was a great way to motivate certain things in history.”
The conversation naturally veered into franchise territory—this is Jason Momoa, after all. On playing Lobo in “Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow” and “Dune: Messiah,” Momoa was extremely tight-lipped, but he was happy to discuss why he had to play Blanka in the upcoming “Street Fighter” film. “There’s no one better to play Blanka, so that’s why I’m doing it,” Momoa said. “We’ll do what the audience would like to see — practical, CG — we’re gonna do our best. The cast is insane. My son and I play it; it’s the only game I played.”
And on returning as the deliciously campy and over-the-top Dante for the upcoming “Fast X” sequel, Momoa seemed to be as in the dark as the rest of us. “I would love to come back and play, man. People all over the world love that character—it’s crazy. But I got no script, so not that soon.”
You can listen to the whole conversation with Jason Momoa below:
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Entertainment journalist, podcaster, and host of The Discourse and Bingeworthy podcasts, with bylines at Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, and IndieWire.
