Stephanie Christodoulou | On 09, Oct 2020

Cary Fukunaga has come aboard Masters of the Air, the Apple TV+ follow-up to Band of Brothers.

The World War II HBO miniseries, and its successor The Pacific, earned a total of 43 Emmy nominations and 14 wins between them. Last year, Spielberg’s Amblin Television and Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman’s Playtone made a deal with Apple to produce the third in the thematic trilogy. While not much has been heard about it since, Spielberg and Hanks have found a helmer to steer the show through its opening episodes.

Fukunaga, who was about to be busy with a lot of press coverage for the now-delayed No Time to Die, will direct the first three episodes of the 10-episode series, reports Deadline, marking his return to the small screen following Netflix’s Maniac.

The adaptation of the Donald L. Miller book Masters of the Air: America’s Bomber Boys Who Fought the Air War Against Nazi Germany is being penned by Band of Brothers veterans John Orloff and Graham Yost. It will tell the story of the American and British bombers who brought the war to Hitler’s doorstep.

Deadline also reports that the series will cost more than $200 million to produce, with production expected to begin in London next March.

 

Masters of the Air: Spielberg and Hanks fly to Apple TV+ for Band of Brothers follow-up

14th October 2019

Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks are reuniting for a Band of Brothers follow-up at Apple TV+.

The World War II HBO miniseries, and its successor The Pacific, earned a total of 43 Emmy nominations and 14 wins between them. Now, Masters of the Air, the third in the thematic trilogy, is on the way, but at Apple’s growing streaming platform rather than HBO.

John Orloff, who adapted two Band of Brothers episodes from the Stephen Ambrose book and was a consultant on The Pacific, is penning the drama, based on the Donald L. Miller book Masters of the Air: America’s Bomber Boys Who Fought the Air War Against Nazi Germany.

Spielberg’s Amblin Television and Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman’s Playtone have made a deal with Apple to produce the series, marking the first project where Apple will serve as the studio. Spielberg, Hanks and Goetzman will be the executive producers, alongside co-EPs Darryl Frank and Justin Falvey of Amblin, Steven Shareshian of Playtone, plus Orloff and Band of Brothers veteran Graham Yost.

The series is expected to run for at least eight episodes and cost more than $200 million. The mammoth project was announced this weekend, just as Apple TV+ also inked a landmark overall deal with Alfonso Cuarón. It also follows another Spielberg project in the works at Apple TV+, the reboot of anthology series Amazing Stories.

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