Fresh off his scene-stealing turn in Dune and the second season of Apple’s See, Jason Momoa has announced his first foray into TV writing. He will star in, co-write, and executive produce Chief of War, which Apple has already given an eight-episode order, Variety reports.
The Hawaiian native is set to mine his own background for the project, which has been billed as “the story of the unification and colonization of Hawaii from an indigenous point of view.” Momoa will pen the scripts with Thomas Pa’a Sibbett, with whom he’s collaborated twice before. Sibbett wrote the 2018 Momoa movie Brazen, and serves as a co-writer for his upcoming film The Last Manhunt.
Both Momoa and Sibbett will executive produce Chief of War through Endeavor Content and Chernin Entertainment alongside Francis Lawrence, Peter Chernin, Jenno Topping, Erik Holmberg, and Doug Jung, who serves as the showrunner. According to Variety, Pachinko director Justin Chon is in negotiations to helm the first two episodes.
While this marks Momoa’s first time writing for television, he previously co-wrote, directed, and headlined 2014’s Road to Paloma. Born in Honolulu, Hawaii and of Native Hawaiian lineage, the actor has previously shared his love for the island. “For my soul I need to be there,” Momoa told CNN of his homeland in 2019. “If I’m not working, I’m trying to get over there.”
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