Apple launches in-house studio with Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks’ Band of Brothers follow-up series titled Masters of Air
Apple is expanding their media empire with the help of two Hollywood icons.
The tech giant has launched its own in-house production studio and is kicking it off with a series helmed by Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks, Variety reported on Friday.
The show, Masters of Air, will be a follow-up to 2001’s Band of Brothers and 2010’s The Pacific which were also produced by Spielberg and Hanks.
Returning to television: Apple launched its own in-house production studio and is kicking it off with a Band of Brothers follow-up series helmed by Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks titled Masters of Air (Hanks and Spielberg pictured together in 2018)
Spielberg and Hanks will executive produce Masters as a limited drama series which will stream exclusively on Apple’s new network Apple TV+.
This marks the first series that Apple will self-produce as its own studio.
According to Variety, the drama is based on the book of the same name by Donald L. Miller.
‘[It] is said to follow the true, deeply personal story of the American bomber boys in World War II who brought the war to Hitler’s doorstep,’ the outlet wrote.
Continuing the story: The show, Masters of Air, will be a follow-up to 2001’s Band of Brothers and 2010’s The Pacific which were also produced by Spielberg and Hanks (Band of Brothers scene pictured)
Icons: Spielberg and Hanks will executive produce the show as a limited drama series which will stream exclusively on Apple’s new network Apple TV+; this marks the first series that Apple will self-produce as its own studio (Damien Lewis from Band of Brothers pictured)
Both Band of Brothers and The Pacific aired on HBO and contemporaneously garnered a ton of critical acclaim and scooped up many awards including 43 Emmy nominations and 14 Emmy wins.
Spielberg and Hanks had originally planned to keep the mini-series with HBO and had actually developed the project with the network.
HBO ultimately passed on Masters of Air earlier this year and it found a home with Apple.
The story: The drama is based on the book of the same name about the ‘deeply personal story of the American bomber boys in World War II who brought the war to Hitler’s doorstep.’ (The Pacific pictured)
Lauded: Both Band of Brothers and The Pacific aired on HBO and contemporaneously garnered a ton of critical acclaim and scooped up many awards including 43 Emmy nominations and 14 Emmy wins (The cast of The Pacific pictured)
The show will mark the second project that Spielberg has signed on for with Apple’s new streaming network. He is also producing a series called Amazing Stories.
Apple, meanwhile, is rolling out a slew of content with the biggest names in the industry including The Morning Show with Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon and a mega deal with Oprah.
A release date for Masters of Air is still to be determined.
Tune in: A release date for Masters of Air, which will exclusively stream on Apple TV+, is still to be determined