You might be interested to know that producers Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks’ much-delayed Apple TV+ series “Master of the Air” will debut its the first two episodes on January 26th, followed by weekly installments until March 15.
The upcoming limited series, said to be a sequel to Spielberg’s “Band of Brothers,” is based on the actions of the Eighth Air Force of the United States Army Air Forces during World War II.
It is currently listed as having nine episodes — Cary Fukunaga directed five, Dee Rees two and Biden/Fleck two. The cast for this one includes Austin Butler, Barry Keoghan, Callum Turner, Anthony Boyle, Nate Mann and Raff Law.
In February 2021, it was reported that production had begun in the UK. Filming paused briefly in July due to positive COVID-19 tests. It all wrapped in the fall of that year. The budget was said to be a whopping $300 million.
So, it’s been two years since shooting ended, and there have clearly been delays. Maybe some of them had to do with all of the allegations that came out against Fukunaga, starting in October of 2021.
Fukunaga was accused of pressuring an actress into doing a topless scene for “True Detective” that was not included in her contracted role as a stripper. This opened the floodgates against him.
A few months later, in April and May 2022, three women accused Fukunaga of various forms of sexual harassment, including “pursuing relationships with them” on the set of “Masters of Air”. Then on May 31st, 2022, Rolling Stone added new allegations, via "nearly a dozen sources," that Fukunaga pursued younger women on set.
This was all happening as Fukunaga was set to release his Bond movie “No Time to Die” in October of 2021. Before these allegations, he was a very hot director in the industry with “Beasts of No Nation,” his popular Netflix series “Manic” and Daniel Craig’s much-hyped final Bond. We haven’t really heard much from him since.