On Friday, the eagerly anticipated World War II series “Masters of the Air” launches on Netflix.
The “Band of Brothers” spin-off, which was conceived and produced by Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks, stars actors Austin Butler, Callum Turner, Barry Keoghan, Ncuti Gatwa, and Raff Law among its outstanding ensemble cast.
The show centers on the hazardous raids carried out by the US Air Force’s 100th Bomb Group over Nazi Germany, and it is based on the same-titled book written by historian Donald L. Miller in 2007.
The actor Butler from “Elvis” portrays Major Gale “Buck” Cleven, who, together with Major John “Bucky” Egan (Turner), is his best buddy, and together they lead the young men on their lethal missions, which became known as “The Bloody Hundredth“.
“I felt a great deal of accountability in realizing this.
Butler, 32, said, “I’m just filled with this reverence and this feeling of immense gratitude to them because they made the world a safer place,” despite the psychological pain they were going through at such a young age.
Following his breakthrough role in George Clooney’s “The Boys in the Boat,” British actor Turner said the show captures the squadron’s emotional spectrum as well as the dangerous circumstances they encountered.
“You had a 23 percent chance of survival every time you went up into the plane,” Turner stated.
“You get to see how volatile and violent it was every time they went up but you also get to experience them dealing with their grief and the effect on their mind, body and spirit.”
Irish actor Keoghan claimed that the sets were so intricate and lifelike that they gave him the impression that he was in the military.
When you turned to look around, you saw folks simply going about their daily lives—marching away, military vehicles cruising down the runway, etc. I was transported back in time to that very moment.”
According to co-creator John Orloff, getting the show off the ground and ready to air was a major undertaking for everyone involved.
“It was so big. That, however, was the air war. “At first, I wanted to make this only if it could be produced at a large scale,” he stated.
The nine-part series’ first two episodes air on Apple TV+ this Friday, and additional episodes will be released every week until March 15.
