'Masters Of The Air': Cary Joji Fukunaga Directing WWII Bomber Limited Series For AppleTV+

Cary Joji Fukunaga, who recently directed the forthcoming (and oft-delayed) James Bond film No Time to Die, is heading into the skies for his next directorial effort.

Fukunaga will direct the first three episodes of Masters of the Air, a World War II limited series from Steven Spielberg's Amblin Television and Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman's Playtone production company. The show serves as a follow-up to their Emmy Award-winning shows Band of Brothers and The Pacific, but instead of their previous premium cable home at HBO, this series will air on a streamer – specifically, on AppleTV+. Get more details below.

Deadline reports that Fukunaga's first directing job in the wake of finishing No Time to Die will be helming the first three episodes of this ten-episode limited series, which is based on Donald L. Miller's book Masters of the Air: America's Bomber Boys Who Fought the Air War Against Nazi Germany. Evidently Fukunaga was being "courted" to direct several movies, but ended up choosing this three-episode run instead.

The story follows "the true, deeply personal story of the American and British bomber boys in World War II who brought the war to Hitler's doorstep," and Amblin describes it as "the third installment in the Band of Brothers/The Pacific franchise series." Whether that means the same characters or actors from those previous installments might show up here remains to be seen. Fukunaga is no stranger to television: he directed every episode of the first season of HBO's True Detective, and every episode of Netflix's brilliant-but-under-seen Emma Stone/Jonah Hill series Maniac.

Deadline says the show will be written by both John Orloff (Legends of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole) and Graham Yost (Justified), who each wrote on Band of Brothers and will serve as executive producers on Masters of the Air, but Amblin's official website only lists Orloff as the writer, so take that as you will.

On top of that, Apple is reportedly "nearing" a first-look deal with Fukunaga's Parliament of Owls production company to develop TV projects moving forward, which would add the director/producer to Apple's impressive collection of filmmakers they've signed to first-look deals. Deadline points out that as of now, Apple has locked down Martin Scorsese's Sikelia Productions, Leonardo DiCaprio's Appian Way, Idris Elba's Green Door Pictures, Ridley Scott's Scott Free, A24, and Imagine Documentaries.

Filming on Masters in the Air is set to begin in March in London.