Apple TV+ has cracked open the vault of untold history with the release of its first official trailer for Chief of War, and it’s thunderous. Set against the breathtaking but brutal backdrop of 18th-century Hawaiʻi, the series dives deep into the islands’ fierce struggle for unification and survival amid colonization. Jason Momoa stars and co-creates this sweeping saga, not just as a performer, but as a native son telling his people’s story with the reverence of a warrior and the urgency of a storm.
Unlike anything we’ve seen from Hollywood’s glossy historical dramas, Chief of War is firmly rooted in Indigenous perspective. It doesn’t just tell a Hawaiian story—it belongs to it. Momoa, alongside co-creator Thomas Pa’a Sibbett, has crafted a series that’s both mythic and intimate. With a cast stacked with Polynesian talent—including Temuera Morrison, Luciane Buchanan, and relative newcomer Kaina Makua—this isn’t just representation. It’s reclamation.
Adding to its pedigree, Chief of War isn’t just riding the wave of prestige TV—it’s helping shape it. Grammy and Oscar-winning composer Hans Zimmer, in collaboration with James Everingham and Bleeding Fingers Music, scores the series with the same emotional grandeur that made Dune and Gladiator resonate in our bones. Directed in part by Justin Chon and Momoa himself, the series will span nine episodes, premiering August 1, and it already feels like appointment viewing.
As the trailer thunders to life with waves crashing and warriors rising, one thing becomes clear: this isn’t just another historical epic. Chief of War is a battle cry—a cinematic reckoning with a past too often silenced, now told with the full force of cultural pride and creative power. If you thought you knew Hawaiʻi, think again.
Check Out The Trailer:-