With Apple TV+’s November 1 release date fast approaching, the tech giant continues to dip into its deep pockets. The service is reportedly sinking US $200 into a WWII drama which both Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg will be a part of.
As part of its effort to build an alluring library of original content, Apple is working on an eight-hour miniseries which will have Spielberg, Hanks and Gary Goetzman as producers.
The new miniseries is based on the book by Donald L. Miller, Masters of the Air: America’s Bomber Boys Who Fought in the Air War Against Nazi Germany. The book follows the stories of the American Eighth Air Force established in 1944. The Eighth Air Force were responsible for devastating air strikes across Third Reich-controlled towns and cities.
The miniseries will follow the stories told in this book closely, with the miniseries said to be the spiritual successor and final instalment in a HBO-run trilogy of wartime narratives. The series will be the final chapter, following Band of Brothers and The Pacific. Both these miniseries were made by HBO but the torch has now been passed to Apple to fund and create the final series.
Deadline reports that Apple took reins of Masters of the Air as it “is better situated to make the requisite financial commitment.” Quite a commitment it is too, reported to be costing US $200 million.
Over nearly a decade both the Band of Brothers and The Pacific miniseries earned HBO 43 Emmy nominations and 14 wins. Band of Brothers followed the accounts of the US soldiers in the war during the Normandy Landings, Operation Market Garden, the Siege of Bastogne, and the final moments of the war. The Pacific similarly follows the stories of US Marines during the war.
With Masters of the Air, the stories of servicemen on land, sea, and air will have been covered.
No firm release date has been given for the series, though it is expected to release around the time the streaming service does. It joins the likes of Apple’s The Morning Show and SEE.
