Tahitian priest and navigator Tupaia acted as translator between Captain Cook’s crew and Māori, after a bloody first encounter at Poverty Bay/Tūranganui-a-Kiwa in 1769. Fijian-born filmmaker Lala Rolls and artist Michel Tuffery bonded over Captain Cook book The Trial of the Cannibal Dog. Rolls' feature Tupaia's Endeavour (also a 2017 Māori Television series) is the culmination of an eight-year exploration of the Pasifika pioneer. Actor Kirk Torrance, professor Paul Tapsell and Tuffery (a descendant of Tupaia) travel to Tahiti and England, and reveal new information about Tupaia's role in Aotearoa's history.