How to watch Chief of War in New Zealand
Jason Momoa is bringing trouble to paradise in this new historical epic.
Big Jason Momoa is real-life 18th century Hawaiian war leader Kaʻiana in this prestige historical epic, and that’s pretty much all we need to know to get on board.
How to watch Chief of War in New Zealand
Chief of War is streaming in New Zealand exclusively on Apple TV+ from August 1, 2025, with a double episode premiere. The next seven episodes of season 1 will be dropping weekly.
What is Chief of War about?
Set at the tail end of the 1700s, Chief of War follows the exploits of Momoa’s Kaʻiana, “the most famous Hawaiian in the world” at a time when the four largest kingdoms of the Hawaiian Islands were in a state of perpetual war. Other than that, details are extremely limited. But in actual history Kaʻiana had a pretty wild life, participating in the various battles that led up to the unification of Hawaii, and voyaging as far afield as Canton (now Guangzhou) in China. Hopefully we’ll get to see a bit of that at some point across the series’ nine episodes.
The cast of Chief of War
Jason Momoa is Kaʻiana, Temuera Morrison is Chief Kahekili, Luciane Buchanan is Kaʻahumanu, Te Ao o Hinepehinga is Kupuohi, Kaina Makua is Kamehameha (later first king of the Kingdom of Hawaii, history fans), Moses Goods is Moku, and Cliff Curtis is Keōua. Seems like we have a little Once Were Warriors reunion here.
Chief of War trailer
Why we’re excited about Chief of War
Big Jase isn’t just acting in this one. He’s an executive producer and a co-creator with Thomas Pa’a Sibbett. He co-wrote every single episode and he’s directing the finale. Chief of War is a passion project for the man about to play Lobo for DC, so we’re pretty keen to see what he comes up with. All else aside, the battle scenes should be suitably epic.
