Although Jason Momoa has been acting in the film and TV industries for more than 20 years now, it’s only within the last decade that he’s become a household name. Game of Thrones played a notable role with that, but Momoa being cast as Aquaman unquestionably launched him to worldwide stardom. However, in between his time in Westeros and the DC Extended Universe, it turns out Momoa wasn’t in the best financial situation.
Jason Momoa’s turn as Khal Drogo may have introduced him to a lot of folks, but as Game of Thrones fans will remember, the character was killed off in Season 1, before the HBO series has become a hit. So Momoa wasn’t able to properly ride that Game of Thrones craze wave, and he spent the next several years struggling to pay bills while he was living at his Topanga Canyon house with his now-wife, fellow actress Lisa Bonet, and their two children. As Momoa explained in his interview with InStyle:
I mean, we were starving after Game of Thrones. I couldn’t get work. It’s very challenging when you have babies and you’re completely in debt.
This goes to show that even if you score a high-profile role on a TV show getting a lot of buzz, that doesn’t necessarily translate to financial success. Around that time, Momoa was also scoring attention for playing Conan the Barbarian. However, that reboot, which also starred Rachel Nichols, Stephen Lang and Rose McGowan, failed to impress critically and commercially, and plans to produce a sequel fell through.
As mentioned earlier, Jason Momoa was far from a newcomer to the entertainment space when he joined Game of Thrones. One of his first gigs was starring as Jason Ioane in the the final seasons Baywatch, which at that point had been rebranded as Baywatch: Hawaii. Then he starred in Stargate: Atlantis as Ronon Dex in four of that show’s five seasons. Nevertheless, even as Momoa’s profile slowly grew, money was still a problem.
Luckily for Jason Momoa, his fortunes shifted when he was selected to play Aquaman in the DCEU, with his casting becoming official in June 2014. Following a cameo in 2016’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Momoa fully debuted as Arthur Curry in 2017’s Justice League. A year later, he took center stage in the Aquaman movie, which soared past $1 billion at the worldwide box office and is still DC’s highest-grossing film. Now Momoa is a bonafide Hollywood star, and he’s not just collecting new fans for playing Aquaman.
To be sure, Jason Momoa’s tenure as DC’s King of the Seven Seas isn’t anytime soon, as he’ll appear as Aquaman in Zack Snyder’s Justice League on HBO Max next year, and then step back into the spotlight for Aquaman 2 at the end of 2022. But Momoa has also starred in the Netflix series Frontier and Apple TV+ series See, and he’ll be seen as Duncan Idaho in Denis Villenueve’s Dune. So with all that, it’s abundantly clear that Momoa is doing quite well for himself nowadays.
Keep checking back with CinemaBlend for the latest and greats news on Jason Momoa’s professional endeavors. Stay up to date with the movies that are supposed to play in theaters next year with our 2021 release schedule.
