Chief of War

The story begins at the turn of the 19th century when the four major kingdoms of the Hawaiian Islands were in a state of war. The series follows Kaʻiana, a warrior and noble (aliʻi) of Kauaʻi who travels outside of the islands as the "most famous Hawaiian in the world",^{[citation needed]} returns home and joins a bloody campaign until, at the last minute, he rebels against the unification of Hawaiʻi that took place from 1782 to 1810 under Kamehameha I.^{[citation needed]}

• Jason Momoa as Kaʻiana^[1]
• Temuera Morrison as Chief Kahekili^[1]
• Luciane Buchanan as Kaʻahumanu^[2]
• Te Ao o Hinepehinga as Kupuohi
• Kaina Makua as Kamehameha I^[1]
• Moses Goods as Moku
• Siua Ikaleʻo as Nahiʻ
• Brandon Finn as Prince Kūpule
• James Udom as Tony
• Mainei Kinimaka as Heke
• Te Kohe Tuhaka as Namakeʻ
• Siaosi Fonua as Maui
• Cliff Curtis as Keōua
• Benjamin Hoetjes as John Young
• Erroll Shand as Captain John Meares

According to Thomas Paʻa Sibbet, he and Jason Momoa came up with the idea in 2015.^[1] It was announced in April 2022 that Apple TV+ had ordered the eight episode miniseries, with Momoa set to star in and executive produce.^[7] Justin Chon was set to direct two episodes of the series that same month.^[5] Momoa and Sibbett co-wrote all episodes, with assistance on Hawaiian language dialogue provided by staff of Awaiaulu, an archiving and translation company based in Honolulu. Cultural advisors were appointed in every production department to achieve as high authenticity as possible, even as far as building war vessels (waʻa) from scratch using real local materials and historical techniques.^[1]

Casting announcements in October and November revealed that Temuera Morrison, Luciane Buchanan, Te Ao o Hinepehinga, Kaina Makua, Moses Goods, Siua Ikaleʻo, Brandon Finn, James Udom, Mainei Kinimaka and Te Hoke Tuhaka had joined the cast.^[8][9][10] Cliff Curtis would join in a recurring role in February 2023.^[11] Buchanan had auditioned prior through a long-distance Zoom table reading from Los Angeles with Momoa.^[2]

Filming for the series began by October 2022 in New Zealand, with Bay of Islands being used to stand in for 18th century Hawaiʻi.^[12] Major battle scenes were filmed in December in the lava fields of Kalapana.^[13]

The series will debut with its first two episodes on August 1, 2025, with new episodes dropping weekly thereafter through September 19, 2025.^[4]