'THIS IS MY DESTINY'

THE STAR SAYS HONORING HIS HAWAIIAN ANCESTORS IN HIS NEW SERIES CHIEF OF WAR IS ‘THE GREATEST MOMENT OF MY CAREER’

- BRIANNE TRACY

As he sits down to talk about his new Apple TV+ historical drama Chief of War at the Four Seasons Oahu in Hawaii, Jason Momoa is not far from where he was born—and two miles from where he’d spend summers with his father, Joseph, while visiting from Iowa, where he was raised by his mother, Coni. His own kids, Lola, 18, and Nakoa-Wolf, 16, whom he shares with ex-wife Lisa Bonet, are out on the ocean nearby, canoeing with his dad. And so the show, which tells the epic history of the Hawaiian islands at the turn of the 18th century, is deeply personal to the Game of Thrones and Aquaman star, 46. “I feel like this is my destiny,” he says. “It’s beyond pinch-me—it’s punch me in the face!”

You co-created this series. What moments make you feel this is what you were meant to be doing?