“Chief of War” scratches the surface of Hawaiian history’s dramatic potential

 True-to-life drama trumps confected spectacle

Copyright © 2025 by Stephen Shender

Having written a historical novel about the life of Hawaii’s legendary King Kamehameha and his fight to unify the Hawaiian Islands, I’ve gnashed my teeth over the Apple TV+ miniseries “Chief of War’s” departures from Hawaiian history. But I’m revising my opinion of the show.

In a previous blog post, I took vigorous exception to the dislocation of real people in time and place in “Chief of War’s” first two episodes. Episode three aroused my ire (to the point of being irate) when another historical figure, American ship captain Simon Metcalfe turned up in a place and time I wasn’t expecting him.

Briefly, in episode three of “Chief of War,” Metcalfe’s ship, the Eleanora, is at Zamboanga in “Indonesia” (Spanish Indonesia, AKA the Philippines) simultaneously with John Mears’s Nootka, whose crew plucked Ka‘iana out of the sea off Maui, where neither Ka‘iana nor the Nootka were, historically speaking. In “Chief of War’s” alternative historical reality, Metcalfe’s Eleanora is without its real boatswain, John Young, because in episode two of “Chief of War” Young got lost on Maui and left behind by the Nootka, which historically wasn’t there, and neither was Young because, historically, he was with Metcalfe on the Eleanora—at the Big Island. (Are you following me?)

Aaaanyway, back to Zamboanga. A Nootka crew member named Marley steals Meares’s navigational chart of Hawaii and takes it to Metcalfe, who evidently has never heard of Hawaii and wouldn’t know how to find the islands without it, even though the late Captain James Cook charted the islands years before and every haole mariner and his brother knows where they are by now—and historically Metcalfe and Meares found them without help. Marley tells Metcalfe there be trading treasure there; sandalwood, a commodity the world is eager for because it smells nice, and Hawaii has sandalwood trees galore. Marley also attacks and ties up Ka‘iana’s only friend on the Nootka, a black man, presumably to sell him into slavery.

A Hawaiian woman who’s a proprietress of a bar in Zamboanga befriends Ka‘iana, helps him acquire weapons, and urges Meares to go into the sandalwood trade with her. How and when this entrepreneurial wahine reached the Philippines is anybody’s guess, but as she’s had time to establish herself as a businesswoman it appears she’s been there long enough to have arrived too early, historically speaking.

Meanwhile, there’s not much action back in the islands. The evil Kahekili is building a structure with his enemies’ bones; the Big Island’s mō‘ī (king) Kalani‘ōpu’u, is dying; his son and heir Keōua (Keōua Kū‘ahu‘ula), and his nephew Kamehameha don’t like each other (historically, Kalani‘ōpu’u’s eldest son, Kiwala’ō, was his heir); kindly John Young teaches Ka‘ahumanu and other Hawai‘ians English; Ka‘ahumanu marries Kamehameha wearing a wedding gown that looks like it was designed by Dior, Balmain, or Givenchy. (It’s a wonder what Hawaiian seamstresses could do with tapa—bark cloth—back in the day, or maybe the gown was prȇt à porter?)

The preceding historical nit picking is unfair to “Chief of War” creators Jason Momoa and Thomas Pa‘a Sibbett, who evidently know their audience. “Chief of War” may disappoint viewers who expect to see history they already know brought to life, but they’re a minority. Most of “Chief of War’s” viewers are likely unfamiliar with Hawaiians’ history and culture. That includes viewers who’ve been to Hawaii, especially regarding Hawaiian culture. Going to a lū‘au doesn’t cut it.

Telling a Hawaiian story from a Hawaiian point of view, in Hawaiian, for the first time on a screen of any size, Momoa and Pa‘a Sibbett are reaching a popular viewing audience while immersing them in Hawaiian culture. Spectacle keeps viewers coming back week after week as the series unfolds: 

A noble hero of Herculean proportions triumphs over adversity; politics forces a beautiful woman into a marriage she doesn’t want, setting up a future, tension-filled romantic triangle; a brutal warlord plots to extend his reign over a gentle, peace-loving populous; white intruders encroach on and threaten to exploit an indigenous people; and there’s fighting, lots of bloody fighting. 

We’ve all seen this movie before. Familiar spectacle is “Chief of War’s” wrapper; inside there’s a cultural encounter of a novel kind. For Momoa and Pa‘a Sibbett, cultural respect is the thing.

Hawaiians will judge whether Momoa and Pa‘a Sibbett have given their culture its due. It’s too bad they haven’t given Hawaiian history its due—or couldn’t because of production constraints—because truth being stranger than fiction, true events make for more compelling entertainment than “Chief of War’s” spectacle.

For example, the Englishman John Young was not stranded in Hawaii by accident; he was a victim of circumstances, and the circumstances are intrinsically entertaining:

• Young was captured by the Hawaiians and held against his will by Kamehameha after he rowed ashore at the Big Island’s Kealakekua Bay to hunt game fowl for the Eleanora’s crew.
• Young had to go ashore because Kamehameha, ruler of most of the Big Island, put a kapu (taboo) on the bay, barring his people from trading with the Eleanora, on pain of death.
• Kamehameha wouldn’t let them paddle out to the Eleanora because a few days earlier at another bay, one of his subchief allies had boarded a different haole vessel and slaughtered all but one of its crew.
•  Kamehameha didn’t want the crew or captain of the Eleanora to find out what happened to the other haole ship because he feared the Eleanora’s captain would fire his cannons on the people at Kealakekua in revenge. So, he couldn’t allow Young to return to the Eleanora.
• The subchief who boarded the other ship and killed its crew was seeking revenge.
•  Some days earlier the Eleanora had arrived at the subchief’s village.
•  When the subchief boarded the Eleanora to greet Captain Metcalfe and initiate trading, Metcalfe beat him with a heavy rope.
• The subchief vowed to avenge Metcalfe’s drubbing by attacking the next haole ship to come along.
•  The next ship to come along was the Fair American, captained by Metcalfe's son, who died in the assault.
• The surviving Fair American crewman was Isaac Davis, who later became one of Kamehameha’s two trusted haole advisers; the other being John Young.

Seriously you can’t make this stuff up—real people, real events, and real drama ready-made for visual storytelling. It’s the historical equivalent of instant coffee. Just add dialogue.

The history of Hawaiian unification is bursting with true-to-life drama. I hope “Chief of War's” popular success spurs another filmmaker to unpack all of it.

Stephen Shender is the author of  Once There Was Fire, A Novel of Old Hawaii about the life of  Kamehameha and the unification of the Hawaiian Islands.