Jason Momoa filmed Chief of War on lava fields — then, the volcanoes erupted: 'You’re stirring up...

Momoa and series cocreator Thomas Pa'a Sibbett talk crafting the Hawaiian historical epic that the island itself responded to: &34;There was a really positive e

Momoa and series co-creator Thomas Pa'a Sibbett talk crafting the Hawaiian historical epic that the island itself responded to: "There was a really positive energy."

Jason Momoa filmed Chief of War on lava fields — then, the volcanoes erupted: 'You're stirring up a lot of spirits'

Momoa and series co-creator Thomas Pa'a Sibbett talk crafting the Hawaiian historical epic that the island itself responded to: "There was a really positive energy."

By Jessica Wang

Jessica is a staff writer at , where she covers TV, movies, and pop culture. Her work has appeared in Bustle, NYLON, Cosmopolitan, InStyle, and more. She lives in California with her dog.

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Published on August 1, 2025 12:00PM EDT

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Jason Momoa in 'Chief of War'. Credit:

Nicola Dove/Apple TV+

For Jason Momoa and series co-creator Thomas Pa'a Sibbett, the historical epic *Chief of War *has been a passion project about a decade in the making.

Premiering Aug. 1 on Apple TV+, the nine-episode miniseries tells the true story of Native Hawaiian warrior Ka'iana (Momoa), the son of Maui's great war chief, as he unifies the Hawaiian islands before the expansion of western colonialism during the late 18th century. Momoa, not yet a leading man in Hollywood, and longtime collaborator Sibbett, an unknown writer and producer at the time, first thought up the project 10 years ago. Why did it take so long to reach fruition? Just call it business pragmatism.

"Jason knew that his star power wasn't big enough at the time, and nobody knew who I was," Sibbett, who has worked with Momoa on such titles as 2018's *Braven *and 2023's *Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom*, tells * *of that early period. "So we worked together over the years to build our credentials and credibility so that when the time was right, we could pitch the story [and] weren't going to have to be begging and pleading and throwing our blood on the line."**

Jason Momoa in 'Chief of War'.

Nicola Dove/Apple TV+

"It wasn't that people were saying no," Sibbett, also a series writer and executive producer, clarifies. "It was just that we were preparing ourselves to be able to carry the weight of this show."

The historical epic, indeed, carries more weight than anything the duo has worked on before; the story is embedded in their DNA. "This is my life and my culture," Momoa, who also wears multiple hats as a writer, EP, and director on the series, says. "When you're all hands on deck, it's all consuming. It's not like being an actor doing a superhero movie [where] I just put the [costume] on, do some fight moves, take it off. I don't have to worry about it." With a passion project such as this, "It's your baby," he says. **

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Consider the research "lifelong" for the creatives. "We tell our Hawaiian stories through dance, music, and chants," Sibbett shares. "These were stories that our families talked about, that our grandparents talked to us about, about the strength of the women and feats of the warriors. This is really a daily conversation for many people in Hawaii." It was important, then, that production — comprised of a predominantly Polynesian cast and crew, many of whom are locals — first and foremost began with a sacred cleansing ritual done ahead of significant events, referred to as an 'awa ceremony, at Iolani Palace.

It proved fortuitous: the series features a big battle scene, filmed on lava fields in the town of Kalapana. During production, the volcano Kīlauea erupted. This, after Mauna Loa had done so just a few days prior, according to Momoa.**

Te Kohe Tuhaka, Jason Momoa, and Siua Ikale'o in 'Chief of War'.

Nicola Dove/Apple TV+

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"I just knew that the volcano was going to go off, and everybody laughed at me and didn't believe me," Momoa recalls. "Sure enough, the night before we went to shoot, I told Brian [Mendoza, fellow producer], 'Dude, the volcano's going to go off.' He called bulls---. About four hours later we got a call at 3 a.m., Mauna Loa went off." Production paused, and once the crew checked for air quality and got the greenlight to proceed, Kilauea went off on day two of the resumed production schedule. "So that was two active volcanoes."

Even more serendipitous was the end of production coinciding with the end of the volcano eruptions. "You can't write that s---," Momoa says. "You're obviously stirring up a lot of spirits and mana. It was unbelievable, but there was a really positive energy."

"What I took from that is, yes, we were telling the story of actual history, but the island itself has memory," Sibbett observes of the eruptions. "The island itself is alive, and it responded to what we were doing. That's what separates a traditional production from a production that's led by culture. We had a mandate to lead this production with culture. We did that with traditional blessings [and] ceremonies, and we took that as a hōʻailona, which is a sign or omen that you're doing the right thing."

"To have the island respond because we are telling its story," Sibbett marvels, "that was one of those moments that was like, 'We did something even bigger.'"

*Chief of War *premieres with two episodes on Aug. 1, followed by new episodes every Friday.**

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