Austin Butler Leads a Platoon of Pilots Amidst WWII in First Trailer for AppleTV+ Lavish War Series, 'Masters of the Air'

by Darian Scalamoni

    Band of Brothers and The Pacific, two incredible limited series brought together by an incredible team that includes HBO, Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks (just to name a few), is regaining popularity due to David Zaslav's plan to license formerly HBO-exclusive content to Netflix. And now, that same team that brought us that series back in the early 2000s will bring us to the skies for a new WWII centric series, Masters of the Air.

    The series is led by recent Oscar nominees Austin Butler and Barry Keoghan amongst an ensemble that also includes other rising stars in the industry such as Callum Turner, Anthony Boyle and Ncuti Gatwa. Masters of the Air thrusts young men into war as pilots, gunners and other soldiers that engage in dog fights in our airspace. The trailer is vivid, engaging and intense but looks to be filled with a ton of emotion, part of what made previous efforts from the wonderful creative team so special. Hanks, Spielberg and Gary Goetzman return to executive produce the project with an amazing group of directors helming the nine episodes that encapsulate the adaptation of the book. That group includes Cary Fukunaga, Dee Rees, Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden.

    Masters of the Air is based on the novel of the same name that was written by Donald L. Miller, while the series is penned by John Orloff. It follows the group of soldiers known as 'The Bloody Hundredth,' the 100th bomber group sent to conduct bomb raids upon Nazi-occupied Germany despite frigid conditions and fighting for their lives. The series will release on AppleTV+ on January 26. 

    Check out the trailer for Masters of the Air below. Are you excited to watch this series?