Apple TV+’s upcoming World War II series has found its leading man. According to Deadline, Nate Mann (Ray Donovan) has joined Masters of the Air in the lead role. He is accompanied by an ensemble cast that includes Anthony Boyle (The Lost City of Z, The Plot Against America), Austin Butler (Once Upon A Time…in Hollywood, The Dead Don’t Die), and Callum Turner (War & Peace, Green Room). The series is a sequel project to HBO’s Emmy-winning limited series Band of Brothers and The Pacific.
Deadline reports the series details the heroic tale of American bombers during the second world war. Based on Donald L. Miller’s (The Story of World War II: Supreme City: How Jazz Age Manhattan Gave Birth to Modern America) book, Mann has been cast as Major Rosie Rosenthal. Originally set at HBO, the series was dropped during the WarnerMedia merger. Apple Studios quickly acquired the show’s rights.
According to Deadline, Apple will produce along with Steven Spielberg’s (E.T., Saving Private Ryan) Amblin Television and Tom Hanks (News of the World, Greyhound) and Gary Goetzman’s (My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Where the Wild Things Are) Playtone production companies. The two juggernaut outfits produced the original series in 2001 and 2010, respectively. Spielberg is joined by Darryl Frank (The Americans, Taken) and Justin Falvey (Falling Skies, Into the West) with Alex Maggioni (Reverie, Spin City) managing the day-to-day operations. Playtone’s Steven Shareshian (The Circle, Parkland) will serve as co-executive producer with series writers John Orloff (Anonymous, A Mighty Heart) and Graham Yost (Justified, Speed). Both Orloff and Yost wrote Band of Brothers.
The original two series won a total of 14 Emmys with 44 nominations, according to Deadline. Band of Brothers premiered in 2001 and told the story of the U.S. Army’s Easy Company, 506th Regiment of 101st Airborne Division. The ten-part series was based on the book written by Stephen Ambrose.
In 2010’s The Pacific, the story focused on three U.S. Marines’ experiences throughout the greater Pacific War. It pulled from the real-life stories of Eugene Sledge, Robert Leckie, and John Basilone. Both series won the Emmy for best miniseries in their respective years.