To put it bluntly, Jason Momoa is a beast. From the imposing physique to his ability to drop a thousand-yard stare with seemingly no effort, he has created a persona that is endearingly savage and endlessly terrifying. Now he will seemingly continue that tradition in an upcoming Netflix series, which appears poised to become the next in a long line of great Netflix shows.
Momoa has been tapped to front of the recently announced Netflix project Frontier. The six-episode Netflix series will center around the North American fur trade in the late 19th century, focusing on the drama and carnage of the era from multiple perspectives. Unlike Game of Thrones – Momoa’s previous foray into television – Frontier seems set to place him at the front and center of the action, rather than minimizing the carnage he finds himself involved in.
The universe explored by the series is described as "a world where business negotiations might be resolved with close-quarter hatchet fights," and a place where "delicate relations between Native tribes and Europeans can spark bloody conflicts." Sounds about right.
As of now San Andreas director Brad Peyton is set to helm the project, which is being produced by Discovery Canada as the network's first scripted drama, with Netflix as an international broadcast partner. In addition to Momoa, the cast of Frontier will include Alun Armstrong (Braveheart), Landon Liboiron (Hemlock Grove), Zoe Boyle (Downton Abbey), Allan Hawco (The Book of Negroes) and Jessica Matten (Robot Love).
Momoa has a history of playing characters that come from strong tribal backgrounds and have closeness with the natural world. From Khal Drogo in Game of Thrones to Conan the Barbarian to his upcoming tenure as Aquaman in the DC Extended Universe, it would seem likely that Momoa will continue this tradition by playing a character indigenous to the American frontier.
Characters who possess a deep connection to Native American culture make for fairly common protagonists in Hollywood films that deal with early American years, such as Daniel Day-Lewis’ Hawkeye in The Last of the Mohicans, or Leonardo DiCaprio’s Hugh Glass in the upcoming film The Revenant. Based upon this, as well as the fact that the logline for the series centers around the tumultuous relationship between Natives and settlers, the odds of Momoa playing a character from this sort of upbringing does not seem out of the question. One need only see Momoa's singular fight scene from Game of Thrones to know that he is fully capable of inhabitating that form of visceral existence.
We will bring you more information about Frontier as it becomes available. As of now, Frontier is slated for a 2016 release date on both Netflix and Discovery Canada.
