Chief of War: the true story behind the creation of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi

This is the historic backdrop to Chief of War, an Apple TV+ drama that explores the unification of the islands though the eyes of warrior Ka’iana.

Is Chief Of War a true story?

Yes, Chief of War is a true story broadly speaking, although to quote scriptwriter Thomas Paʻa Sibbett, the series takes 20 years of chronology and “crunches it into a smaller story”.

At the heart of the drama is Kaʻiana (Jason Momoa), who was a real warrior and noble born around 1755. The real Kaʻiana fought alongside another important character in Chief of War, Kahekili II (c1737-94), during his invasion of O’ahu. Later, Kaʻiana fought for Kamehameha I – although he ultimately turned against the king.

It’s important to emphasise Chief of War tells what’s first and foremost a Hawaiʻian history. Kamehameha I, after all, was widely thought to have fulfilled a prophecy by uniting the islands.

That said, contact with Europeans is an integral part of the wider narrative here.

Captain Cook was killed in February 1779 after trying to kidnap Kalaniʻōpuʻu, the aliʻi nui of Hawaiʻi. In the wake of Cook’s death, Kaʻiana is reputed to have sailed from Kauaʻi to Niʻihau aboard HMS Resolution – although some accounts suggest the traveller was actually Kaʻiana’s cousin. According to the ship’s surgeon, David Samwell, a man the crew dubbed “Taiana” hoped to travel to England, a request that was refused.

In 1786, two British ships, the King George and Queen Charlotte, anchored in Kealakekua Bay on Hawaiʻi. Kaʻiana was among those who greeted the first Europeans to return to the Hawaiʻian islands since Cook’s death.

• Read more | 5 facts about Captain Cook’s HMS Endeavour

In 1787, Kaʻiana finally got to leave the islands when he travelled aboard a ship called Nootka, captained by John Meares, to Canton (now Guangzhou) in southern China. He also travelled to the Philippines and to the north-western coast of North America. Keeping in mind his experience of the outside world, it’s no coincidence that Kaʻiana had a key role in securing arms and ammunition for Kamehameha to use in his campaigns.

What happened to the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi after the events of Chief of War?

Evolving over the years into a constitutional monarchy, the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi endured until 1893, years in which the islands were transformed, not always for the better. In particular, diseases brought by Europeans and Americans such as syphilis, tuberculosis and measles caused a decline in the indigenous population.

In 1893, a coup d’état ended the rule of Queen Liliʻuokalani, the last sovereign monarch of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi. With American influence in the islands growing, a short-lived republic was established. That lasted until in 1898, when the republic and the expansionist US president William McKinley signed the Newlands Resolution – a piece of legislation stating that the US would annex the islands, which they duly did in 1900, creating the Territory of Hawaiʻi.

In August 1959, after years when the islands were an American-controlled territory, including during the Second World War when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, Hawaiʻi became the 50th state to be admitted to the Union.

Recreating the world of 18th-century Hawaiʻi for Chief of War

We spoke to Chief of War co-creator Thomas Paʻa Sibbett about bringing Hawaiʻian history to the screen.

The history that Chief of War explores is highly complex. How did you go about researching it?

The beginning of the process started when I was a child. These are stories that we’ve consumed through oral traditions for many, many years [Paʻa Sibbett is Hawaiʻian]. And then, aside from writing, before that my course of study was Hawaiʻian Studies. I actually got into the film industry to tell stories of Hawaiʻi and to tell stories of the Pacific. But, you know, it takes a while for people to trust that you can do what it is that you claim you can do, especially when you’re telling a story that has never had this type of representation before.

Did you also have written material you could use to immerse yourself in the period?

Hawaiʻian history was conveyed by oral transmission, but at the point of contact [with Americans and Europeans] things changed. Early in the 1800s, they started to develop their own newspapers. They had many, many different outlets for newspaper articles, and they built a wealth of history.

You would have, for example, in the mid-1800s somebody documenting the story of Kamehameha, and they’re getting that story from someone who was there. We have a huge amount of resources that are telling us these stories from a Hawaiʻian point of view.

The other thing that we have are the journals of sailors and the captains’ logs from when Kaʻiana travelled.

Your characters speak in Hawaiʻian for much of the series. Was that difficult as a scriptwriter?

The decision was made in the beginning that we wanted this world to be authentic. If we removed Hawaiʻian, then I felt like we were removing the reality, and that was just something we weren’t willing to do.

But it was difficult because the actors don’t speak Hawaiʻian, the directors don’t speak Hawaiʻian, the producers don’t speak Hawaiʻian, the studio heads don’t speak Hawaiʻian. It was a learning process.

The thing that made it work, and this is where I really have to put a shout out to everyone involved – everyone on set, everyone in the creative departments, all the actors – who were fully committed to honouring that aspect of the story. Nobody wanted to cut back on cultural representation. They worked so hard.

Even when we would get a shot – and the shot could be really well acted and well done – the director’s first thing was he would look over to our language experts [from a Hawaiʻian cultural organisation called Awaiaulu] and say, “Are we good?”

What was happening in the islands in the late 18th century?

This time period in Hawaiʻi is so rich. We look at the islands today and they feel like they have the same characteristics. In those days, each island was, in essence, its own country. They were separate kingdoms, and a lot of times even worshipped different gods. And inevitably, as countries grow and influences grow, they come into conflict with each other.

Then there’s the introduction of the outside world, no longer being pre-contact Hawaiʻi. We start to see Hawaiʻians trying to figure out what is the good and bad to this incoming influence – and to be honest, in their first interactions, there wasn’t ever a thought of a threat. [From a Hawaiʻian perspective] it was just about learning from one another and finding out what’s beneficial to learn from the outside world.

Can you tell us a little about what the outside world made of Hawaiʻians when they travelled? Kaʻiana seems to have been viewed as hugely impressive.

Ka’iana was very imposing. He’s written of as being handsome. A crew member had this rabbit and [Ka’iana] loved to get down on his haunches and just kind of spend time with the rabbit. He just really enjoyed this foreign world. Kaʻiana’s story allows us to explore: what is the thought process for a Hawaiʻian that goes out there?

For example, he was in Zamboanga, a Spanish fort in the Philippines. When he got there, Zamboanga had already had 100 years of occupation. The land was so consumed that local people were building bamboo shacks over the water, so Kaʻiana would have witnessed this. He would have seen the impact of the outside world and what it does when it comes into a place. But he didn’t go out there with the thought of, “How do I fight these people for what they’re doing?” He was truly a student of the world. And I think that is pretty indicative of how Hawaiʻians are.

Chief of War will be available to stream via Apple TV+ from Saturday 1 August. For more content like this, check out the best historical movies of all time as chosen by historians and ranked by you, history TV shows and films to stream tonight, and our picks of the new history TV and radio released in the UK this week