The first trailer lands (or rather takes off) for Masters Of The Air, Apple’s expensive, Steven Spielberg-produced WWII drama.
Scheduled to begin streaming in January, Masters Of The Air is another starry, big-budget project from Apple TV+. Executive produced by Steven Spielberg and Gary Goetzman, it’s a spiritual continuation, of sorts, of the pair’s hit WWII drama series Band Of Brothers and The Pacific.
About the airmen of the 100th Bomb Group, and their repeated raids over Nazi Germany, the nine-part series is based on Donald L Miller’s book (deep breath) Masters Of The Air: America’s Bomber Boys Who Fought The Air War Against Nazi Germany.
The first thing to note is the cast – series creators John Shiban and John Orloff have attracted a veritable galaxy of stars here – it’s headed up by Elvis himself, Austin Butler, who’s joined by Ncuti Gatwa (soon of Doctor Who fame), Barry Keoghan, Callum Turner, Anthony Boyle, and many more besides.
Apple has spent north of $250m on the project (perhaps as much as $300m depending on where you look), but Masters Of The Air is clearly being marketed as a prime bit of prestige telly. Cary Joji Fukanaga (True Detective, No Time To Die) is directing the first four episodes; Captain Marvel and Mississippi Grind’s Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck are doing episodes five and six, Dee Rees (Mudbound) is doing seven and eight, and Tim Van Patten (The Wire, The Pacific) is rounding things up with the ninth and final episode.
As you can see from the trailer, the period detail is all there to be seen, and the sense of scale is the sort of thing you’d expect to see in a big-screen war movie.
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Masters Of The Air will begin streaming on Apple TV+ on the 26th January.
