Two decades after Band Of Brothers transfixed the HBO audience, Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks are back with another (that is, after The Pacific) WWII-set drama series. Masters Of The Air will soon land on Apple TV+ after hailing from Spielberg’s Amblin Television in conjunction with Hanks and Gary Goetzman’s Playtone. The series’ directors include Cary Joji Fukunaga, Tim Van Patten, Dee Rees, and Anna Boden with Ryan Fleck. Here’s the latest information on this upcoming sensory overload:
Plot
Over the course of nine episodes (up from the originally envisioned eight) Masters Of The Air will tell the real story as relayed in Donald L. Miller’s book, Masters of the Air: America’s Bomber Boys Who Fought the Air War Against Nazi Germany. A teaser trailer portrayed the stunning visuals and camaraderie from these real-life events, and a full trailer showed the sh*t hitting the fan, as is obviously going to be the case when fighting Nazi Germany is involved.
John Orloff (Band Of Brothers) and John Shiban (Breaking Bad, The X-Files) wrapped their arms around the book to carve out the sgiw’s story and screenplay, and Apple TV+ promises “a true story of brotherhood and American airmen in WWII Europe.” The show will spend time with the Tuskegee Airmen (the first Black military airmen of America) along with the “Bloody Hundredth,” i.e. the 100th Bomb Group, which will be initially led in the series by Austin Butler’s Major Gale Clevin.
Butler recently detailed how Hanks recruited him for the project while they were finishing up Elvis filming in Australia. Via Variety:
According to Butler, Hanks told him: “You have immersed yourself so deeply in ‘Elvis’ that, for your mental health, it would be wise to go straight into something else. If you just jump off the train, you might have emotional whiplash… and, you know, I’ve got this thing I’m producing.'”
It’s not exactly a vacation of a role, but at least it kept Butler from crashing down to earth, so to speak, after receiving an Oscar nom for portraying Presley’s voice. The series not only contains action-packed aerial bombardment sequences but also a German POW camp, English villages, and bucolic fields.
Here’s more from Apple TV+’s description.
Masters of the Air” follows the men of the 100th Bomb Group (the “Bloody Hundredth”) as they conduct perilous bombing raids over Nazi Germany and grapple with the frigid conditions, lack of oxygen and sheer terror of combat conducted at 25,000 feet in the air. Portraying the psychological and emotional price paid by these young men as they helped destroy the horror of Hitler’s Third Reich, is at the heart of “Masters of the Air.” Some were shot down and captured; some were wounded or killed. And some were lucky enough to make it home. Regardless of individual fate, a toll was exacted on them all.
Cast
Along with Butler, this series will star Barry Keoghan, fresh off freaking people out and dancing naked in Saltburn. The cast also includes Callum Turner, Anthony Boyle, Rafferty Law, Josiah Cross, Branden Cook, Ncuti Gatwa, and Nate Mann.
Release Date
The series premieres on Friday, January 26, 2024 with two episodes, followed by new episodes on Fridays through March 15, 2024.
Trailer
A two-minute teaser trailer went in on the visuals:
In a newer trailer, the peril truly begins:
Masters of the Air will take flight on January 26, 2024.
