Chief of War: Morrison Discusses Apple TV Drama, Star Wars Future

Posted in: Apple, Disney+, Star Wars, TV | Tagged: Ahsoka, boba fett, Chief of War, the book of boba fett

Chief of War: Morrison Discusses Apple TV Drama, Star Wars Future

Temuera Morrison reflected on his time on the Apple TV historical drama Chief of War with Jason Momoa and updated his Star Wars status.

Published Tue, 10 Nov 2026 14:07:10 -0600
by Tom Chang
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Article Summary

• Chief of War star Temuera Morrison says Jason Momoa personally recruited him for Apple TV’s sweeping Hawaiian epic.
• Morrison reflects on learning Hawaiian for Chief of War and why the series reawakened Polynesian history and culture.
• Chief of War filmed largely in New Zealand, and Morrison praises the production’s scale, jobs created, and cast unity.
• On Star Wars, Morrison says there are no firm Boba Fett plans, and he confirms he recorded nothing for Ahsoka season 2.

Temuera Morrison will always be proud of his opportunities to work in Hollywood, and they've paid off handsomely, judging by the longevity they've given him, with a career spanning 50+ years. After making his debut in the 1973 film Rangi's Catch, the actor came up his way through the New Zealand and Australian entertainment industry before emerging with his breakout hit Once Were Warriors in 1994, which resonated with Chief of War star Jason Momoa, who ended up casting him as King Kahekili, the rumored father of King Kamehameha I (Kaina Makua). While promoting his indie horror film Dead Howling, Morrison spoke to Bleeding Cool about his relationship with Momoa, whom he also co-starred with in the DCEU's Aquaman franchise; learning Hawaiian; and an update on his Star Wars from his bleak future on The Book of Boba Fett, and whether we'll hear from Captain Rex again on Ahsoka season 2.

Chief of War Star Temuera Morrison Reflects on Apple TV Historic Drama, and Star Wars Status

Bleeding Cool: You brought up Jason Momoa earlier. I was wondering, what did you like about the biographical nature and being able to play King Kahekili in Chief of War?

Morrison: Yeah, that was a fantastic project too to work on. Jason called me early; of course, he wanted me involved with the project. He's a big fan of mine, and I think 'Once Were Warriors' was one of his go-to movies when he started off in the industry, so he's been a great supporter of mine. I really enjoyed working on that project with him. As the cast, we made it a point to really get stuck in and learn the Hawaiian language as best we possibly could, with the pronunciations and working closely with the dialogue coaches.

Quite an epic, that one; of course, a lot of the filming took place in New Zealand as well. As I was saying, he tries to bring his projects down to New Zealand. We had a little bit of filming in Hawaii, but most of it was shot in New Zealand. Subsequently, a lot of people got a big job from that production anyway. A lot of drivers, a lot of makeup, special effects, and a set being built. So, it was quite an epic to be involved with, and I really got stuck in too. I wanted to be good, because Jason gave me this wonderful opportunity, along with Cliff Curtis and me. We were a couple of the two or three Māori involved, a lot of Hawaiian, and it really brought us together as a cast, and it even reawakened Polynesia to some of our own stories.

His story was about Jason's character (Ka'iana), but it was very similar to some of our Māori ancestors who traversed the world back in the 17th and 18th centuries. So yeah, it resonated very well, and I felt overall it reawakened Polynesia to each different island, to their history, their culture, their language. So again, it reignited us in a way, into looking into our stories from Polynesia. Again, the castle chief of war was right across Polynesia at Tongman, Samoan, a lot of Hawaiian, of course, and a few Māori in there as well.

What a spectacle and a spectacular show to be involved with! I'm very proud of that one. I'm glad I did that project, and then at the beginning, I was trying to hide away from Jason for some reason. I wasn't quite sure if I could learn the language as well as I could, but I ended up okay. Hopefully, we might do some more one day. I don't know what the story is, though, but yeah, very, very honored, and again, Jason put me in there. So, if he gives me the nod, I'll try to do my best for my brother. So sometimes he's better than an agent, that guy putting me in on some of his projects. So, so very good. I missed him. Actually. I haven't seen him for a while.

Has Dave [Filoni] spoken to you about any immediate plans for Boba Fett? When might we see him again in live action?

No, no, I haven't seen or heard from Dave for a while. I know I'm always on there. I think the last I seen Dave was I was doing some voice work for 'Ahsoka' as Captain Rex, and he was one of the characters in the first season. That was the last time I made contact with Jon [Favreau] and Dave Filoni, but they remained warm, and they always… last time I saw them, Dave said, "Look, I'm always on." I'm always in their peripheral, but no, there hasn't been anything solid in terms of a phone call from Dave and say, "Look, we're going to bring back Boba Fett or bring back 'The Book of Boba.'" There's been nothing like that, so I don't really think it's one of those things where they're heading in another direction. I like to think of it as I'm that jar of peaches on Grandma's cupboard. I'm just sitting in the cupboard waiting, sitting in, sitting like a jar of peaches, and when I finally get opened, I'm going to be sweeter, if you know what I mean. I think I'm just in Grandma's cupboard like a good, sweet jar of peaches, buddy. We'll see what happens anyway.

Now, did you record anything for season two of Ahsoka?

No, I didn't.

Chief of War, which also stars Luciane Buchanan, Te Ao o Hinepehinga, Te Kohe Tuhaka, Brandon Finn, Siua Ikale'o, Mainei Kinimaka, Roimata Fox, Kela Kahuanui-Paleka, Moses Goods, James Udom, and Benjamin Hoetjes, is available on Apple TV. Dead Howling, which also stars Ryan Kwanten, Joel Jackson, Tom Burlinson, Téa Heathcote-Marks, and Riley Stiles, is available on digital, DVD, and Blu-ray.

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