“Let’s rack ’em up and knock ’em down,” says bomber pilot Major Gale “Buck” Cleven (Austin Butler) in Masters of the Air. Apple on Thursday released the first trailer for the new World War II drama from executive producers Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks, and Gary Goetzman, behind HBO’s Band of Brothers and The Pacific. The series, which premieres with two episodes Friday, January 26, is based on Donald L. Miller’s book of the same name and written by John Orloff (Band of Brothers). Oscar nominee Butler (Elvis) leads a high-flying cast that includes Callum Turner (The Capture), Anthony Boyle (Tetris), Nate Mann (Licorice Pizza) and Oscar nominee Barry Keoghan (The Banshees of Inisherin).
Watch the Masters of the Air trailer below.
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“Masters of the Air follows the men of the 100th Bomb Group (the ‘Bloody Hundredth’) as they conduct perilous bombing raids over NaziGermany and grapple with the frigid conditions, lack of oxygen and sheerterror of combat conducted at 25,000 feet in the air,” the official synopsis reads. “Portraying thepsychological and emotional price paid by these young men as they helpeddestroy the horror of Hitler’s Third Reich is at the heart of Mastersof the Air. Some were shot down and captured; some were wounded orkilled. And some were lucky enough to make it home. Regardless ofindividual fate, a toll was exacted on them all.”
Following the two-episode premiere on January 26, one new episode will air every Friday through March 15, 2024, on Apple TV+.
“Masters of the Air is a salute to the brave men of the 8thAir Force, who, through their courage and brotherhood, helped defeatNazi Germany in World War II,” Goetzman said when announcing the series. “Tom and Steven havealways wanted to visualize cinematically what our author Don Miller hascalled, this ‘singular event in the history of warfare.’ We’re thrilledthat Apple TV+ has given us the opportunity to combine the efforts of somany talented people, on-screen and behind the camera, to tell thisimportant story.”
Apple Studios (Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon, Ridley Scott’s Napoleon) is behind the prestige project executive produced by Spielberg for Amblin Television (Halo), and Hanks and Goetzman for Playtone (Band of Brothers).Amblin Television’s Darryl Frank and Justin Falvey serve as co-executive producersalongside Playtone’s Steven Shareshian, with Orloff also serving asco-executive producer with Graham Yost (Justified). Masters of the Air is directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga (True Detective), Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck (Marvel Studios’ Captain Marvel), Dee Rees (Mudbound), and Tim Van Patten (Boardwalk Empire).
