''Masters of the Air'' is an upcoming American

war drama In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-gen ...

miniseries based on the actions of the

Eighth Air Force The Eighth Air Force (Air Forces Strategic) is a numbered air force (NAF) of the United States Air Force's Air Force Global Strike Command (AFGSC). It is headquartered at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana. The command serves as Air Force ...

of the

United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. It is being produced by Playtone, Parliament of Owls,

Amblin Television Amblin Television is the television production division of Amblin Partners. It was established in 1984 by Amblin Entertainment as a small-screen production arm for Steven Spielberg's ''Amazing Stories'' anthology series for NBC. The company ha ...

and Apple Studios.

Cast

* Austin Butler as Major Gale Cleven *

Callum Turner Callum Robilliard Turner (born 15 February 1990) is a British actor and model. He is known for his roles as Theseus Scamander in '' Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald'' and '' Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore'', Bill Rohan in ...

as Major John Egan * Anthony Boyle as Major Harry Crosby * Nate Mann as Major Robert Rosenthal *Raff Law as Sgt. Ken Lemmons * James Murray as Major Chic Harding *

Tommy Jessop Thomas Jessop (born 19 January 1985) is a British actor. He is the first actor with Down syndrome to star in a primetime BBC drama, the first professional actor with Down syndrome to tour theatres as Hamlet, and the first to become a full voting ...

Freddy Carter Frederick James Carter (born 27 January 1993) is an English actor and director. He stars as Kaz Brekker in the Netflix fantasy series ''Shadow and Bone'' (2021–). He previously starred as Peter (Pin) Hawthorne in ''Free Rein'' (2017–2019), a ...

as Lt. David Friedkin *

Barry Keoghan Barry Keoghan ( ; born 18 October 1992) is an Irish actor. He is known for his roles on screen, appearing in independent films and blockbuster films. In 2020, he was listed at number 27 on ''The Irish Times'' list of Ireland's greatest film act ...

as Lt. Curtis Biddick * Nikolai Kinski as Colonel Harold Huglin * Oaklee Pendergast as Sgt. William Hinton *

Louis Greatorex Louis Greatorex (born 30 December 1996) is a British actor from Duffield, Derbyshire. His television credits include the BBC1 drama series ''Last Tango in Halifax'', in which he has played Lawrence Elliot since 2012. Life and career Greatorex i ...

as Capt. Joseph Payne * Adam Long as Capt. Bernard DeMarco *

Kai Alexander Kai Alexander (born 7 June 1997) is a British actor known for playing Jeffrey in ''Catastrophe,'' Richard Branson in Danny Boyle's ''Pistol'' and Dante Gunnarsson in Netflix's '' The Stranger.'' He most recently joined the cast of upcoming Ap ...

as Sgt. William Quinn *

Jordan Coulson Jordan Coulson is a British actor. His next role will be portraying the role of Howard ‘Hambone’ Hamilton in ‘Masters of The Air’ Produced by Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg on Apple+ In 2023. Jordan is also known for roles such as playin ...

as Lt. Howard Hamilton *

Fionn O'Shea Fionn O'Shea (born 2 January 1997) is an Irish actor. He starred in the films '' Handsome Devil'' (2016) and ''Dating Amber'' (2020). On television, he is known for his roles in the Channel 4 sitcom '' Hang Ups'' (2018) and the BBC Three and Hul ...

as Sgt. Steve Bosser *Nitai Levi as Sgt. Paul A. Vrabec, Jr. * Laurie Davidson as Lt. Herbert Nash *Francis Lovehall as Captain Wendell Oliver Pruitt *Bradley Banton as Lieutenant Lee "Buddy" Archer *Edward Ashley as Lt. Col. John B. Kidd *Kieron Moore as Sgt. Clifford Starkey *David Shields as Major Everett Blakely *Jon Ewart as Lt. William Couch *Daniel Briggs as Sgt. William Crabb *George Smale as Lt. Raymond Nutting *James Meunier as Lt. Kenneth Lorch * Sam Hazeldine as Col. Albert Clark *Darragh Cowley as Lt. Glenn Graham *Elliot Warren as Lt. James Douglass *Adam Silver as Lt. David Solomon * Ncuti Gatwa as 2nd Lt. Robert Daniels *

Josh Bolt Joshua Ryan Bolt (born 2 May 1994) is an English–Finnish actor. He starred in the 2009 film ''The Be All and End All'', a role which saw him shortlisted for the best newcomer at the 2009 British Independent Film Awards. Early life Joshua Ry ...

as Lt. Winifred "Pappy" Lewis *Ben Radcliffe as Capt. John D. Brady *Sonny Ashbourne Serkis as Lt. James Evans *Jack Franklin as Charles Mylius *Kwame Agyei as Lt. Joseph Evans Gordon *

Phillip Lewitski Phillip Forest Lewitski is a Canadian actor from Calgary, Alberta.Eric Volmers"Calgary-born actor delves into Mohawk ancestry for sci-fi role in Utopia Falls" ''Calgary Herald'', February 13, 2020. He is most noted for his leading role as Apollo 4 ...

as Lt. Francis Harper *Sawyer Spielberg as Lt. Roy Frank Claytor *Alex Boxall as Sgt. Monroe Thornton *Christopher Lakewood as Col Thomas Jeffery *Ian Dunnett Jnr as Lt. Ron Bailey *Sid Phoenix as Ralph Nist *

Robert Hands Robert Hands is an Olivier Award-nominated British actor based in London. He trained at the prestigious Bristol Old Vic theatre school. His career has spanned over twenty years during which time he has played leading roles in film, television, an ...

as Major Gustav Simoleit * Stephen Campbell Moore as Major Marvin "Red" Bowman *Jojo Macari as Capt. Oran Petrich * George Webster as Lt. Glenn W. Dye * John Hopkins as Dr. Wendell 'Smokey' Stover

Guest

* Joanna Kulig as Paulina * Bel Powley as Alexandra "Sandra" Wingate *

Lauren McQueen Lauren Louise McQueen (born 12 July 1996) is an English actress. She gained prominence through her role as Lily Drinkwell on the Channel 4 soap opera, ''Hollyoaks''. She also appeared on the CBBC school-drama '' 4 O'Clock Club'' as Rachel and o ...

as Rose *David Nolden as Hans * Cameron Ashplant as Clerk

Production

Eighth_Air_Force_-_Emblem_(World_War_II)

Reports of a third

based

miniseries A miniseries or mini-series is a television series that tells a story in a predetermined, limited number of episodes. "Limited series" is another more recent US term which is sometimes used interchangeably. , the popularity of miniseries format h ...

in the same vein as '' Band of Brothers'' and ''

The Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

'' developed by

Tom Hanks Thomas Jeffrey Hanks (born July 9, 1956) is an American actor and filmmaker. Known for both his comedic and dramatic roles, he is one of the most popular and recognizable film stars worldwide, and is regarded as an American cultural icon. Ha ...

and

Steven Spielberg Steven Allan Spielberg (; born December 18, 1946) is an American director, writer, and producer. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, he is the most commercially successful director of all time. Spie ...

began in October 2012, focusing on

aircrew Aircrew, also called flight crew, are personnel who operate an aircraft while in flight. The composition of a flight's crew depends on the type of aircraft, plus the flight's duration and purpose. Commercial aviation Flight deck positions ...

s of the Mighty Eighth. In January 2013,

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...

confirmed it was developing the miniseries, based on Donald L. Miller's book ''Masters of the Air: America's Bomber Boys Who Fought the Air War Against Nazi Germany''. In October 2019, it was reported that Apple had made a deal with Spielberg's and Hanks's respective production companies to stream the series exclusively on

Apple TV+ Apple TV is a digital media player and microconsole developed and marketed by Apple Inc. It is a small network appliance hardware that plays received media data such as video and audio to a television set or external display. Since its secon ...

instead of HBO. HBO confirmed that it decided not to move forward with the series in a statement. ''

Deadline Hollywood ''Deadline Hollywood'', commonly known as ''Deadline'' and also referred to as ''Deadline.com'', is an online news site founded as the news blog ''Deadline Hollywood Daily'' by Nikki Finke in 2006. The site is updated several times a day, with ...

'' reported the series contains ten episodes at a production cost of over $200 million, while ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...

'' said it contains nine episodes at a production cost of $250 million. The website Footsteps Research reported the series would focus on the

100th Bombardment Group 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1 ...

of the Eighth Air Force. In October 2020, Cary Joji Fukunaga was announced to be directing the first three episodes of the series. In February 2021, Austin Butler and

were cast to star in the series. Anthony Boyle and Nate Mann joined the cast in March, with Raff Law, James Murray and

added in April.

revealed his casting in a May interview, while set photos revealed

was also cast. In June,

Dee Rees Diandrea Rees (born February 7, 1977) is an American screenwriter and director. She is known for her feature films '' Pariah'' (2011), '' Bessie'' (2015), ''Mudbound'' (2017), and '' The Last Thing He Wanted'' (2020). Rees has also written and di ...

was announced as directing episodes of the series. In July, Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck were also announced as directing episodes.

Colleen Atwood Colleen Atwood (born September 25, 1948) is an American costume designer. Atwood has been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Costume Design twelve times, winning four times - for the films ''Chicago'' (2002), ''Memoirs of a Geisha'' (200 ...

will serve as costume designer. In February 2021, it was reported that production in Britain had begun, at

Dalton Barracks Dalton Barracks is a military installation near Abingdon in Oxfordshire, England and home to No. 3 and 4 Logistic Regiments of the Royal Logistic Corps. History The barracks were established, on the site of the former RAF Abingdon airbase, in 1 ...

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primarily ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. Retrospective temporary 12 month planning permission has been applied for at Newland Park, Chalfont St Peter, following the construction of a WWII barracks on the site. Filming paused briefly in July due to positive

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

tests. Production also occurred in

Hemel Hempstead Hemel Hempstead () is a town in the Dacorum district in Hertfordshire, England, northwest of London, which is part of the Greater London Urban Area. The population at the 2011 census was 97,500. Developed after the Second World War as a ne ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Masters of the Air English-language television shows Upcoming drama television series Apple TV+ original programming World War II television drama series American military television series Aviation television series Television productions suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic Television series based on actual events Television series by Amblin Entertainment Television series by Playtone Television shows based on non-fiction books Television shows filmed in England United States Army Air Forces Television series about the United States Army

Cast

Guest

Production

See also

References

External links