Seth MacFarlane (Family Guy) has inked his first project under his overall deal with NBCUniversal. The working title of the limited series is The Winds of War and has been put into production by Universal Content Productions (UCP), a TV production company affiliated with NBC, according to Deadline.
The series is based off the 1971 Herman Wouk novel under the same name, as well as the sequel novel titled War and Remembrance, published in 1978. MacFarlane’s work on the project follows the 1983 adaptation of The Winds of Warseries produced by Dan Curtis (Dark Shadows). The sequel novel was also adapted by Curtis into a 12-episode miniseries in 1988. The Winds of War tells the story of a family’s tumultuous voyage through the years that spanned World War II.
The Winds of War adaptation will be written be Seth Fisher (The Alienist). Fisher will also serve as an executive producer to the project with MacFarlane and Erica Huggins (Get on Up) from Fuzzy Door Productions. Rachel Hargreaves-Heald (Threshold) will oversee Fuzzy Door plays in the adaptation as the company’s head exec. The limited series will be filmed at UCP Studio, a division of Universal Studio Group.
Said MacFarlane to Deadline about the project: “I can’t think of a more exciting project with which to launch my creative partnership with UCP than Herman Wouk’s The Winds of War. I’ve been a devoted fan of Wouk’s WWII epic for decades, and its depiction of small-scale human endurance in the face of large-scale global upheaval has never been more relevant than it is today. In my very first meeting with Dawn Olmstead, we connected over this project — I learned that she herself comes from a Naval family — and to bring it to fruition under her stewardship and that of her UCP team will be a perfect fit for all. We can’t wait to get started.”
There is not currently casting or premiere information on the limited series.