Jason Momoa on His Unscripted TV Gamble and Hopes to Do a ‘Really Good’ Film: ‘None of My Movies Are Going to the Awards’
Jason Momoa is living the dream. Those are his words, as he describes his latest project, Max’s unscripted travel series, “On the Roam,” during which he travels the country to seek out craftsmanship, art, adventure and friendship, meeting different people with an assortment of skills along the way.
“This is everything I love to do, and I wanted to make a show about all the things that I love, respect and honor,” he tells Variety of the series, which debuts on Jan. 18. “Some of these people are the people I idolize. You think of it as a travel show, but it’s really all of these people opening their homes and lives to you. The more they’re peeling back these layers and letting me in, it was just an honor to find out their paths and how they got there.
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“Every person in the world is going to have one thing that you’re totally going to connect with, and vibe with,” Momoa continues. “We’re all here together, we’re here for a short period of time. There’s no reason not to love, cherish and connect with one another. There’s a lot to learn from thy neighbor.”
The eight-episode docuseries is Momoa’s latest dip into unscripted content. He recently co-created Apple TV+’s competition series “The Climb” and hosted Discovery’s “Shark Week” last summer. More reality could be in his future.
“Climbing was one of my loves, and it was challenging because I couldn’t be there for the whole thing. This is just really my life. This is me doing the things that Iove. I started this way before ‘The Climb,’ it just took three years to make because I’m constantly shooting something somewhere else,” he says, noting that reality in general is “very challenging” overall. “It’s a very revealing thing — it’s a hard thing to do, because I don’t know how much I want people knowing about me. But it’s too late now.”
While doing “On the Roam,” Momoa noticed that he still feels he has “so much to do” in his career — and thinks he hasn’t really become an expert at anything.
“I don’t really think I’ve done anything so far,” he says, adding that “On the Roam” is simply highlighting “what I’d be doing on my off days.”
Momoa continues: “I’m not going to be able to master all of these things. I’m a solid C+ to B- at everything. But I like doing a lot of different things, and I’m not an A at one thing.”
So what does he still want to do? Well, making people laugh is important.
“I really went after comedy. ‘SNL’ let me on twice. I tried ‘Slumberland,’ and it did OK,” Momoa says. “I have ‘Minecraft.’ I’m going to do another comedy-esque action thing with Dave Bautista after that. If people love this, I’d love to do a Season 2.”
Since Momoa first broke out as Khal Drogo on “Game of Thrones” more than 10 years ago, he’s been in franchises such as the Fast and the Furious and the Justice League movies, including the recent “Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom.” And there are more to come.
“There’s some movies out there that I gotta go back to, and I’m sure if you did your homework, you’ll know what movies I gotta go back on,” Momoa says. “I’ve just never been a part of movies that — none of my movies are going to the awards. I’m not really that guy. So maybe one day it’d be nice to do one of those kinds of movies, where it’s a really, really good movie.”
The “Fast and the Furious” franchise is set to return in Part 2 of “Fast X.” While Vin Diesel said it will be in theaters in April 2025, Momoa has yet to see a script. “I put out my ideas and we’ll see where it goes. But that’s probably a ways off,” he says. “That’ll be fun to do. It’s fun playing the villain. It’s wonderful to play the villain.”
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