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Apple has announced that they are full steam ahead on a nine-episode order for Masters of the Air, the follow-up drama to HBO‘s limited series Band of Brothers and The Pacific. The new streamer will begin producing the third story in the WWII saga from Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks, which was originally meant for HBO.
With this order, Apple is also officially launching its own studio, making the series the first that it will fully own and produce in-house. Apple’s Worldwide Video execs Zack Van Amburg and Jamie Erlicht, who were former head of Sony Pictures TV, will oversee the unnamed studio.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, HBO abandoned the series a few years back, before WarnerMedia became its new corporate parent. It is based on historian Donald L. Miller’s nonfiction book “Masters of the Air: America’s Bomber Boys Who Fought the Air War Against Nazi Germany.”
The project, which is estimated to cost $250 million to produce, was a big factor in HBO’s decision. Another factor was that DVD sales were a big component of the profits for award winners The Pacific and Brothers.
Masters will focus on the aerial wars through the eyes of the Eighth Air Force — known as the men of the Mighty Eighth — who went straight for Hitler in WWII. The drama arrives nearly twenty years after HBO scored six Emmys for Band of Brothers and its 2010 sequel, The Pacific, which received a staggering 24 nominations and eight leading wins.
All of the producers behind the original projects are slated to return for the new installment. Tom Hanks, Gary Goetzman and Steven Spielberg will exec produce for Hanks and Goetzman’s Playtone and the latter’s Amblin Television, respectively. Amblin TV’s Darryl Frank and Justin Falvey will co-exec produce alongside Playtone’s Steven Shareshian.
Band of Brothers alum John Orloff will pen the script and also co-EP the series alongside Graham Yost (Justified). The latter also worked on both previous shows in the franchise. The third miniseries in the WWII saga had been in talks for months after The Pacific’s success. The third show was officially put in development back in January 2013 at HBO.
Michael is a music and television junkie keen on most things that are not a complete and total bore. You can follow him on Twitter — @Tweetskoor
