Could 2025 be the year for historical action series? It's certainly shaping up to be that way, judging by the success of American Primeval on Netflix.
After being released in early January 2025, American Primeval hasn't left Netflix's global top-10 list; at the time of writing one month on, it's the sixth most-watched English-language series. That's despite its mixed Rotten Tomatoes score of 69%.
That's a little surprising when you consider that the series was marketed as a Western, a genre which has certainly seen more popular days. It's set in the American West in the 1880s, and tells a fictional story inspired by true events.
Hopefully American Primeval has set audiences up for violent historical disputes, because it's not the only streaming service set to release such a show this year. In fact, Apple TV Plus has been teeing up one that fans are getting really excited for.
This series is called Chief of War, which was first announced in early 2022 and was filming later in the year. It was initially meant to release in 2024, but that never came to pass.
Chief of War is set in 18th century Hawaii, which is deep in a war between the island chain's four major kingdoms. It follows a warrior called Ka'iana as he returns from a journey outside the islands, and joins in the conflict.
Like how American Primeval depicted the Utah War, Chief of War will show the unification of Hawaii, which in the real world took place between 1782 and 1810. The show was created by Thomas Pa'a Sibbett and Jason Momoa, the latter of whom also stars in it alongside Star Wars' Temuera Morrison and The Night Agent's Luciane Buchanan.
The show promises to shine a light on Hawaiian culture: it's the primary language of the show, it was largely filmed in the islands (as well as New Zealand) and, of course, it shines a light on a part of history that's not too well known in the rest of the world. While the Utah War may not be widely known either, its American West setting isn't exactly new to screens.
Chief of War also promises to be as big and action-packed as Netflix's western, with some battle scenes reportedly having been filmed in Hawaii.
So when could we see Chief of War? Well that's the big question, with Apple having shared no information about its current release date. It's not included in Apple's official upcoming slate (which I reported on here, and goes up until April of this year) nor has much news on it broken in the last two years.
We'll have to wait and find out, with Chief of War joining other anticipated shows that could come out in 2025 including Foundation season 3, For All Mankind season 5 and Monarch: Legacy of Monsters season 2.
Apple is no stranger to historical pieces, with the likes of Franklin, The Buccaneers and Manhunt, but these tend to be dramas rather than epics or action pieces. So Chief of War could mark the turn into a bigger-budget type of show.
You must confirm your public display name before commenting
Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.
