The Big Picture

Jason Momoa’s docuseries, On the Roam, explores his passions outside of Hollywood, including motorcycles, unique jewelry pieces, and guitars. The series was filmed over three years and features Momoa traveling across the US, speaking with masters of their own crafts. Momoa reveals that the series was originally created for Discovery and discusses his hopes for a potential Season 2, where he can explore more of his interests.

Hearing Jason Momoa’s name conjures up images of formidable characters, like Game of Thrones’ Kahl Drogo, Fast X’s Dante Reyes, or DC’s Aquaman, and that narrow, smirking gaze. In 2023, Momoa’s eight-part docuseries, On the Roam, will provide a “pull-back of the curtain” to expand on the man behind the characters — as an actor, writer, producer, and director — that much more by exploring his passions outside of Hollywood. In this interview with Collider’s Steve Weintraub, Momoa opens up about how he merged his passions with his craft over the years, and also reveals the secret to that smoldering gaze.

Filmed over three years, On the Roam is a docuseries that chronicles Momoa’s travels in an attempt to reconnect with the things he’s passionate about outside of Hollywood — motorcycles, unique jewelry pieces, guitars, and the like. The series proved to be a labor of love, according to Momoa, who tells us each project required lengthy periods of time to shoot, sometimes years, to fully capture the individual craftsmen and their creations. Throughout the show, Momoa and his team travel across the US, speaking with masters of their own crafts, including Guns N’ Roses’ Slash.

During this interview, Momoa talks about originally creating On the Roam for Discovery, before the Warner Bros. merge, and discovering all the different things he wanted to include, and how those “obsessions” could intertwine. He explains why the series spanned years, getting to work with his personal idols and showcase their abilities, and his hopes for Season 2. Check out the video above, or the transcript below, to find out how Momoa had a hand in the creation of iconic characters like Aquaman and Dante, why hosting Saturday Night Live is scarier than any stunts he’d perform on any set, and the status of his Apple TV+ series as co-creator, Chief of War.

On the Roam Jason Momoa travels across the country to meet the extraordinary individuals blazing their own path – from craftsmen, to motorcycle fabricators, musicians to athletes. Release Date January 18, 2024 Main Genre Documentary Seasons 1

COLLIDER: I watched all eight episodes of the series. I spent the weekend watching, and I feel like I learned a lot about you. I’m riddled with envy at some of the cool shit you got to do. But before we get into the series, I like throwing a few curves at the beginning. You’ve done a lot of cool stuff. If someone has never seen anything you’ve done before, what is the first thing you’d like them watching and why?

JASON MOMOA: Road to Paloma. It’s a movie that I co-wrote, directed, and did with, like, six of my friends about a very important topic on the Native American reservations. I did it about 12 years ago now.

If you could get the financing to make anything you want, what would you make and why?

MOMOA: I feel like I’m kind of in the middle of it right now. My dream was to make Chief of War. I’m making it with Apple, and we just finished the first season so we’re in post right now. So, I’d say that that’s my dream to make this native Hawaiian tale, and we’re doing it.

Related ‘Chief of War’: Jason Momoa to Lead Limited Series About the Colonization of Hawaii at Apple TV+ Momoa and Apple’s relationship continues with this new series.

Yeah, I’m really looking forward to it. I know that you co-wrote a lot of the episodes.

MOMOA: Yeah, we created it with my partner, Thomas [Pa’a Sibbett], and I got to direct with my friends. Yeah, directed it, too.

What’s scarier, spending all day doing interviews or hosting SNL?

MOMOA: I mean, hosting SNL will be the most terrifying thing. It’s always the scariest thing.

Sure. I could never do it. I can’t imagine what it’s like when you walk out from behind the thing and you see the camera there and the audience.

MOMOA: Well, the problem is I need glasses, too. That’s why I’m always squinting. I can’t see very well. I can’t get contacts in to save my life, so it’s really scary, the reading, and also a little slow. It all gets very nerve-wracking, you know what I mean?

Yeah, I mean it sincerely. I could never do it. I’m so impressed by anybody who can.

What Is Jason Momoa’s ‘On the Roam’ About?

Jumping into the series, you had eight episodes and you obviously cover guitars, motorcycles, and photography. Your passions. Was there anything that came close to being on the show that you were ultimately like, “I’m just gonna focus on these things?”

MOMOA: Yeah, but I feel like I would want to save that. If people liked it, I would do it for Season 2. So, there’s a lot of stuff that I wanna do. These were the first ones. We started with Discovery before Discovery bought into Warner Bros., and then it’s HBO Max and Max. So we started a long time ago when it was Discovery. Discovery is very heavy into motorcycles, so that was our original thing, and people really loved that. I was like, “Alright, well, that’s what we’re great at.” Then we slowly introduced all the different things, like the knife-making and the jewelry-making, and relating that to the characters in my craft, the things that I love. So, it’s really trying to make them all intertwine together. Like, what are the things that inspire me or the things that I want to learn? So, there’s tons of more things I want to do. I don’t know if I wanna spill those yet. I’m hoping people love it, so if they like it I can do another season and do more.

Totally. So, how did it work when you were making the series? Did you film it all at once?

MOMOA: No, the hard part about doing the show is that you want to sit with each one of these. You have to have the moment of fruition, right? So whatever that moment is, whether it’s just me by myself, then we’re gonna go take it to the people, then we’re gonna talk about it, and then I’ve got to disappear, and then they’re gonna have to start putting it together. So I have to send the crew in to start shooting twice, the building process, then I come back at the end of it, and at the end of it we’re gonna do the reveal. Then we either take that and shoot the big event that we’re doing, or however we fit the last part of it. So, I’m really there for the beginning and the end, and then we shoot the middle of it because obviously it’s just that with the artist. So, the project could take two years to make, like to make a 29 electric car that’s never happened. I’m flying in from Dubai just to be there for the middle half. So I do fly in on the middle half of it, too, and we’re always trying to connect with all these projects. I’m trying to juggle where I’m at in the world with whatever projects we’re doing.

Yeah, I could tell by mask-wearing, I’m like, “Oh, that was like 2020/2021.”

MOMOA: Yeah. When we started our first push, we started in California and we went up to Northern California. We came down, we went all the way through Texas, down to Louisiana, and then straight up and through North Carolina. Then I went to where I started See Season 2, so we ended up in Canada. So we did that big sweep through after COVID.

One of the things that I thought was really cool and I didn’t know about you going into this series is how you’ve worked with your friends and people that you really admire to create these one-of-a-kind items for your characters in Fast X, in See, the new Apple series.

MOMOA: Everything.

Jason Momoa Brings His Own Design to ‘Aquaman,’ ‘Fast X,’ and More
Image via DC Studios

Can you take me through what it’s like on set? Are you telling the showrunner or the director, “Hey, I have some friends and I want to create this?” How does it actually work with the production?

MOMOA: Even on Frontier I was hired, and my partner, Blaine Halvorson, who I made Meili with, does a lot of different clothes and stuff like that, so I have him build my own pieces. But also, he works with the costume designer. The costume designer would come in, and I just want him to age certain things, so the hero pieces were aged. Even like on Aquaman, Michael was a costume designer, and he actually came to me, and he was like, “Well, Aquaman is not gonna wear polos and suits, so I want him to look like what you do.” I wanted him to look like Slash, and I wanted him to carry all the things of him going from village to village, to different places around the world. So, he had knickknacks and things that were special that people would give him when he saved things and did things. So, he wore everything on him that had memory, and then he would have very military things because he’s always constantly traveling around the world. So, Blaine helped me with those.

Generally, I have someone who helps me. I go to production and I ask for that. And I also just do it myself. I pay for it and I show up, and if they beat what I made, then they win. If they don’t beat what I made, they don’t win. I’m gonna go invest into my craft, and I think this is what it should be. If you show up with something better, like Trish Summerville on See, I showed up for a season of See and I didn’t bring a fucking thing. She laid it out. Second season, I did a lot of my stuff where I wanted to look a certain way, and I completely was like, “I want it to be this and do this.” The costume designer made it, I came with the props, and I go, “This is what I would like. This is what I would like.” I think over time they really enjoy when you come with that much passion. When I did Fast, at first she [Sanja Milkovic Hays] was like, “Ehh…” and then we are now very tight. Because I just come with, like, “I wanna play this character this way. I want him to look this way. I want him to feel this way.” So, everything is for a reason, and it’s all for the better of the movie. So, I just think it’s a little pull-back of the curtain to see, “This is what I’m obsessed with. I wanted to bring this in here. I made these knives. I was there when we made them,” and shoot it.

I will say, you are my favorite part of Fast X. The way your character looked and the way you played the role — fantastic.

MOMOA: I just wanted him to be in pastels. That was my first thing. I was inspired by the little necklace; it was all in pastels. I wanted it to be something that you can get close to and be like, “Oh, that’s not that harmful.” And the closer you get, I actually did put contacts in because I wanted you to just see those black eyes. I have greenish hazel eyes, and when you put those dark eyes in, you’re like, “Oh, I got too close,” and by that time it was too late, and you just see his knives. He was dangerous.

Image by Jefferson Chacon

One of the things that I would imagine is the coolest part of your life must be being able to cold call someone you’re a fan of and be like, “Hey, I’m Jason Momoa. I’m a huge fan of your work. I wanna learn how you do your stuff. Can I come by?” Who is someone that you still can’t believe you were able to do that with and who you got to learn from?

MOMOA: Les Claypool, Primus. I grew up with Primus. He’s hands down one the greatest bass players of all time. He calls me, and we talk all the time. Todd Hido. He’s my eyes. I love everything that he does. Julian Schnabel. He and Denis [Villenueve] are my top. Those are the people that signed my DGA when I became a director. Like, that’s ultimate. I got Denis and Julian. Slash. Skateboard, Erik Ellington. Dude, he’s my friend. It’s just people that I’m like, “They’re my friends now.” I’m still constantly inspired by them, and they’re wonderful and they keep pushing. It’s wonderful, man.

All I’ve heard about the Dune sequel is that it is phenomenal, and that is no surprise because Denis is a genius.

MOMOA: He is all that and a bag of chips, man. He’s amazing.

100%.

Jason Momoa Recreates Iconic Guitars in ‘On the Roam’
Image by Jefferson Chacon

Something I was very curious about is you recreated these classic guitars, like Slash’s guitar from the ‘80s.

MOMOA: It’s the Appetite for Destruction guitar.

Even the Pearly Gates guitar. What I’m curious about is, when they recreated the guitar, does it actually sound like the original, or with the modern electronics and modern wood, does it have a different sound?

MOMOA: I mean, that’s something for them, but they use it on stage. So when Slash uses it, he loves it. The thing is, you can never duplicate that feel and that time and all that energy put into that wood, but over time, as close as you can get to it these guys are going to do so. But as far as what they can do with technology, getting those PAFs, and getting the pickups as close as they can, they can really do that now. But having that historic of what was in ‘59, I mean, you can never have the real thing. They were all individually different, and that’s why they’re the holy grails. But these guitars that we made are so good that Slash and Billy [Gibbons] take them on the road. So, they’re definitely the best you can get. It’s cool because we made that for them, and then we made one for charity, so now we’re gonna go and auction it off. People get to see the show, let that resonate with people, and then we’re going to start the auctions.

I think it’s really cool what you’re going to be doing for charities. If I had the money. [Laughs]

MOMOA: Maybe no one watches the show, and maybe they go for nothing! You never know.

No, I’m pretty confident it’s gonna be out of my budget, and that’s okay because I want these charities to make money. That’s totally fine. Where are the six ‘36 Harley-Davidsons right now?

MOMOA: They’re all kind of split up right now. They’re all kind of split up all over the world. I’ve been down in New Zealand, so a lot of stuff is with me, where I want it to be.

One of the things that I think is great is that you want to use, play, and share these vintage, amazing items, these old motorcycles and these guitars, but there is the aspect, also, of you wanting to preserve history. What do you actually have that is actually so sacred that you don’t want to display it or play it? Is there anything like that, or is everything fair game to use?

MOMOA: Everything is fair game to use when it comes down to something like a motorcycle or a guitar. The things that are sacred to me are things that my kids made, things that are really personal, things that are irreplaceable. Not that guitars aren’t, but the things that I find, really, that I cherish aren’t guitars and motorcycles and things like that. They would mean nothing to you.

Image via Max

Sure, I totally get it. Basically, if you come across a one-of-one motorcycle, it’s being ridden no matter what?

MOMOA: A one-of-one motorcycle, I don’t have something like that. It’s a one-of-one motorcycle, so I haven’t had a deal with that. But if it was a one-of-a-one, I’ll tell you what I would do: I would share it with the world. So I would basically take that apart, I would 3D scan it, and I would make it available. I’m gonna go shoot it and make something amazing with it. And then we can put that one up, and it should be in the museum where it belongs. As long as it still works, too. I wouldn’t ride it, but I’d ride those other ones. I’d try to make it better. We’d try to blow it up and make it better, and blow it up, make it better. That’s how we progress. But if I took a one-of-one, I’d share it, and so I’d probably try to replicate it.

On the Roam debuts on Max on January 18.