You might be interested to know that IMDb is listing Cary Fukunaga's much-delayed Apple TV+ series “Master of the Air” for a September 20th, 2023 airing. I’ve contacted Apple for confirmation and have yet to get an answer.
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 eight episodes — Fukunaga directed four, 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 in Britain had begun. 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 around $300 million.
So, it’s been two years since shooting ended, and there have clearly been delays. I’m not sure why. Maybe they have to do with all of the allegations that came out against Fukunaga in October of 2021.
If you remember, 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 Fukunaga.
A few months later, in April and May 2022, three women accused Fukunaga of various forms of sexual harassment, including “pursuing relationship's with them”. Then on May 31st, 2022, Rolling Stone decided to further damage him by reporting 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 from him since.
Criterion's December lineup has some great additions to the library, but the title that jumped out at me is Werner Herzog's "Grizzly Man," which officially joins the Collection on December 8.