Masters of the Air executive producer Tom Hanks has sent the rumour mill into overdrive among fans of the Apple TV+ series
The wartime drama, based on Donald L Miller’s book Masters of the Air: America’s Bomber Boys Who Fought the Air War Against Nazi Germany, follows the 100th Bomb Group in World War II.
Four episodes in and the drama has received a mixed bag when it comes to feedback, with some viewers slamming the distracting CGI used to recreate the Boeing B-17s while others have praised the series for its loyalty to the source material.
While the likes of Austin Butler, Callum Turner and Barry Keoghan lead the drama on-screen, Hanks and long-time collaborator Steven Spielberg have lent their expertise behind the camera.
The two spearheaded the production of the 2001 Emmy-winning wartime drama Band of Brothers as well as serving as executive producers on the 2010 miniseries The Pacific.
Spielberg and Hanks’ may have only just joined forces for Apple’s Masters of the Air but following a recent quote from the Green Mile actor, some fans think another wartime drama could be in the offing.
Austin Butler in Masters of the Air: The Elvis star plays Maj. Gale ‘Buck’ Cleven
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In an interview with Extra on the red carpet of the Masters of the Air premiere, Hanks told a reporter: “It’s not just one group of stories. There are as many individual stories as there are men and women who went off and did this years ago.
“We’re not interested in locking this off into a celebration of nostalgia or revisiting the tropes that we’re familiar with, we want to break it down to procedure and behaviour.
“Everybody who went through what they went through back when this takes place is no different than the individual choice we all face right, the individual struggles.
“We always hope that people watching this are going to come away every three minutes saying, ‘I did not know that’. Maybe I did not know how cold it was, I did not know how scary it was or even I did not know how much fun these guys might have had in certain circumstances.
“But every time you do that you just remove all the aspect and artificiality and I just hope that those people watching at home do the same thing that I did which was ponder, ‘What would I do if the same thing was asked of me?’
“And in that case, we could keep telling these stories for as long as we have great source material, which we did have with Don Miller’s book.”
Hanks’ mention of “keep telling these stories” has now caught the eye of some members of the Masters of the Air fandom, who’ve reacted to his words on online forum Reddit.
One viewer shared a clip on the interview on the site with the comment: “At 1:18 Tom Hanks hints that they will continue to do these stories as long there is great source material.”
Masters of the Air: The Apple TV+ series continues each Friday
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It didn’t take long for fans to agree, with one fan pointing out: “WWII is an infinite source of great stories.”
“Is it possible to not wait 15 years between series?” a second questioned while a third suggested: “Next series has to be the Navy in the Pacific. Either highlight all the major battles, or follow one ship. I would pick the Enterprise as she received more battle stars and decorations than any other during the war.”
However, not everyone was convinced as another fan argued: “I don’t think we’re getting any new miniseries by Spielberg and Hanks unless MotA turns out to be such a massive smash hit they want more.
“And even then they might just not want to. In a recent podcast Gary Goetzman was asked about this and he said they weren’t done with WW2, but likely feature films instead of miniseries.”
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