Jason Momoa’s Loveletter to Hawai’i

Chief of War is both epic and a kind of cultural redemption

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This story contains spoilers, so if you don’t want to know anything about what happens in Chief of War, go watch it first and then come back.

One of the most dramatic and most pivotal scenes from Jason Momoa’s Apple TV series Chief of War takes place on a lava field, known as the black desert, a harsh and unforgiving landscape of hardened basalt. Two rival forces meet to fight, one invoking the volcano goddess, Pele, to support their side. The production team had considered filming this part on a custom-built sound stage in New Zealand, where lighting would be easier to accomplish, and it would be safer. But ultimately, it was determined that the authenticity of a real lava field at the base of a real volcano was important to the integrity of the scene.

After all, this is a story about the actual history of Hawai’i and events that took place before and during the unification of the islands under Kamehameha. The first two episodes are entirely in ‘ōlelo Hawai’i (the Hawai’ian language) with subtitles, and although English is used part of the time after that, great care was employed to make the show culturally authentic.

As filming began, the Moana Loa volcano began erupting for the first time in 38 years…