Jason Momoa’s ongoing protest against the construction of the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) on the dormant volcano Mauna Kea in Hawaii may delay the production on the superhero film Aquaman 2, in which he is set to reprise the titular role.
In an Instagram post he shared on Friday, Momoa wrote that he “can’t shoot Aquaman 2” because he “got run over by a bulldozer” while trying to shut down the TMT construction on Mauna Kea, which is considered sacred to native Hawaiians.
The post comes with a photo of the construction of the Subaru Telescope on Mauna Kea back in 1992. Momoa explained that the TMT will be four times larger than the Subaru Telescope and will be erected on an unscathed land. “THIS IS NOT HAPPENING. WE ARE NOT LETTING YOU DO THIS ANYMORE. Enough is enough,” the Hawaiian-born actor wrote. “We must protect our sacred mountain from further desecration.”
In a follow-up Instagram post, Momoa encouraged his followers to support the protest calling for the shutdown of the TMT construction. “During this time, we are trying to unite both kānaka and Hawai’i born peoples alike to protect not only the Mauna, but also our way of life and greatest natural resources in Hawaii as a whole,” explained the 40-year-old actor. “Pls be an inspiration and raise awareness amongst the general public and the corporate realm to promote the conservation of our ‘āina for our generation and future generations to come.”
Based on his other recent Instagram posts, Momoa has been on Mauna Kea since the last couple of weeks to join his fellow activists express their disapproval of the TMT construction.
The TMT is a $1.4 billion scientific project underwritten by a group of universities in California and Canada as well as partners in China, India, and Japan. According to the Los Angeles Times, Mauna Kea was selected as the site of the telescope in 2009. Though the construction had been halted a couple of times between 2014 and 2015 because of protests, Hawaii’s Supreme Court ultimately ruled that the construction is legal.
Aquaman 2 is already slated for a December 16th, 2022 release, but this could definitely be pushed back at a later date if Momoa chose to prioritize the protest over the movie.