Jason Momoa unpacked the emotional and psychological toll a massacre from his movie Chief of War takes on his character.
In episode 7 of the historical drama series, the makers depicts the colonisation of Hawai‘i and the violent clash between Native Hawaiians and Western powers.
At the end of the episode, Captain Simon Metcalfe and his crew, after being rejected in a peaceful trade offer by Chief Kamehameha, retaliate violently.
They fire nail bombs from their ship’s cannons into a bay filled with innocent Hawaiian civilians, killing hundreds.
"That was the ultimate horror. It’s to come back, know what’s coming, and then voice what you’ve seen, and not be trusted and then also have to live by some laws that you necessarily don’t believe in anymore," Momoa, who plays Ka‘iana, described the impact of the incident on his character.
Ka‘iana had tried to warn his people about the dangers of the outsiders "paleskins" but was ignored and silenced.
He then struggled with his faith and beliefs, began to doubt the gods of his people and felt burdened by the conflicting forces of his native values and the violent, exploitative colonial systems being imposed on them.
"I feel like he’s coming back [to Hawai’i] and carrying that [burden]. He feels inflicted when he comes back, but he can’t let that go,” The Aqauman star says of his new character.
Momoa, 46, also touches on how some of Kamehameha’s advisors are white men who were once low-ranking individuals in England but gained influence in Hawai‘i simply by being there and offering their worldly experience to manipulate the king.
