Masters of the Air, the follow-up to the Emmy-winning hit series Band of Brothers, will begin filming on March 2021 in London. No Time to Die director Cary Joji Fukunaga will helm the first three episodes.
The miniseries will be Fukunaga’s latest TV project after Netflix’s Maniac with Emma Stone in 2018. Masters of the Air will consist of 10 episodes and has a budget of over $200 million. The show will run exclusively on Apple TV+.
According to Daily Express, the miniseries’ release date hasn’t been set since filming will still be underway. The production team expects possible changes in the schedules as well due to the coronavirus pandemic.
What is the series about?
Masters of the Air is based on the World War II book, Masters of the Air: America’s Bomber Boys Who Fought the Air War Against Nazi Germany from author Donald L. Miller. The story’s focus is on the U.S. 100th Bombardment Group of the Eighth Air Force.
According to Footstep Research, the show will delve into how these young airmen coped mentally and physically with each plane mission. The series will also explore the uniqueness of the air combat unit compared to the soldiers on the ground.
Fighter pilots need to contend with high-altitude as well as master the use of their equipment and plane system. They also need to fight as a unit, while maneuvering a war plane in the air.
Who is behind the show?
Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks produced Band of Brothers and The Pacific for HBO more than 20 years ago. They’re also behind Masters of the Air and have been developing the miniseries for nearly a decade.
Both Spielberg and Hanks are World War II enthusiasts and they sought the help of this book’s author for this series. Miller had been discussing the show with the pair for years.
According to Daily Mail, Spielberg and Hanks originally wanted the show for HBO but the network passed on the development. They shopped the series around and eventually landed a deal with Apple TV+. Spielberg is also working on the Amazing Stories series for the streaming platform.
Spielberg and Hanks’ work on Band of Brothers earned them 43 nominations and 14 wins at the Emmy Awards in 2001. It remains to be seen if they will repeat the same feat with Masters of the Air but Fukunaga himself is an Emmy-winning director. He won in 2014 for True Detective.
Image courtesy of Dick Thomas Johnson from Tokyo, Japan / CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)