Band of Brothers, Masters of the Air is a war drama set in World War II, depicting the actions of the "Mighty Eighth" of the United States Air Force. The miniseries is heavily informed by Donald L. Miller's 2007 book Masters of the Air: America's Bomber Boys Who Fought the Air War Against Nazi .
Masters of the Air will center around one of World War II's most extended military campaigns, described by Miller's book as a strategic "war within a war." The series will feature an all-star cast including Elvis star Austin Butler, Callum Turner, Barry Keoghan, Elliot Warren, Rafferty Law, Anthony Boyle, and Ben Radcliffe. Produced by Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg, this will be the third miniseries set in World War II that the duo has made together following the success of their blockbuster film Saving Private Ryan.
Completing Masters of the Air seems to be taking longer than initially expected. Rumors of the miniseries came about in 2012 and were confirmed by HBO in 2013. Apple struck a deal with Spielberg and Hanks in 2019 to take on the project instead of HBO, which previously distributed Band of Brothers and The Pacific. The cast was arranged for Masters of the Air, which will span 9 episodes and is reported to have a $250 million production budget. Despite this, the miniseries has yet to materialize. This setback may have to do with COVID-19 changing the production schedule in England and problems with one of the miniseries' high-profile directors.
As with many projects in the film and television industry, the COVID-19 virus shut down productions for casts and crews worldwide for extended periods. Masters of the Air was no exception when filming had to be put on hold in July 2021 due to positive COVID-19 tests. Another potential factor in the series' delay is that No Time to Die director Cary Joji Fukunaga was announced to direct several episodes for AppleTV+, but Fukunaga has since been embroiled in several sexual harassment allegations.
Band of Brothers and The Pacific both took nearly 10 months to film. If production on Masters of the Air began in February 2021, albeit with a pause due to COVID-19, that would mean the miniseries could be released later in 2022. No release date has been set by AppleTV+ yet, and based on Cary Joi Fukunaga's recent scandals, the streaming platform may be holding off an announcement. Dee Rees, Anna Boden, and Ryan Fleck have also been tapped to direct episodes of Masters of the Air, but it's unknown how far into the process Fukunaga was on his trio of episodes prior to the aforementioned scandals breaking, or how much time it will ultimately cost the studio.