This news item has been all over the Internet this week. We would be remiss if we didn’t mention it here at HBOWatch. If you haven’t caught the buzz it seems HBO is not finished will telling the story of World War II. In a press moment this past week HBO’s top two Michael Lombardo & Richard Plepler revealed that they are considering a third miniseries in the WWII saga for the premium channel. They consider it a companion piece to BAND OF BROTHERS and THE PACIFIC that both were created and produced by Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks via his Playtone Productions. BAND OF BROTHERS, of course started the saga. The wartime experience of “Easy Company” was told in a 10-part, 11-hour miniseries in 2001 on HBO. It episode averaged a $12.5 million price tag and went to win many awards including six Emmy Awards.
THE PACIFIC aired in 2010. It also was a 10-part, 11-hour miniseries that chronicled some of the key events in the war in the Pacific theater of Operations focusing in on the Marine Corps and three soldiers in particular; that is different from the previous series that focused on one company as it made its way through the European front. This production was also by Playtone and garnered many awards. It also has the distinction of being the most expensive miniseries by any network totaling out at $250 million to make.
Now there has been a mention to the press of the next installment. The HBO heads dropped only one specific point about the project and that was that they think it should be about the aerial assault over the Pacific Theater. That sounds like a logical direction as the first series represented the Army; the second did the same for the Marine Corps and the third could now acknowledge the Air Force. This story could begin with airmen scrambling to deal with Pearl Harbor to escorting and deploying the payload of the Enola Gay. It is too soon to say whether Playtone Productions is once again the production team to make this continuation of the saga but you can be sure they are the first option HBO will want.
As a side note, one small thing that bothered me as I read this news is that everyone is touting this possible work as a sequel to BAND OF BROTHERS. I, and maybe I’m alone, feel that THE PACIFIC was not a sequel to B OF B and neither should this next project be considered as such. It might be a picky squabble over semantics but this new installment is a continuation of the WWII saga. It is one big story told from multiple perspectives and one that helps complete the story of heroics, warfare and patriotism that still needs told. If for some reason these miniseries are not in your DVD or Blu Ray collection allow me to suggest that now would be a good time as any to pick them up as this is some of HBO’s finest.
HBOWatch will keep its followers informed as this saga continues.
6 comments
what would be really cool would be some Desert Fox action, fighting Rommel in Africa
Cool, it would also be nice to see something with the same kind of production budget about earlier events in the war from a British perspective like the D-Day landings or Battle of Britain.
I feel save in saying that I don’t think Playtone Productions is going to want to pass this up. It is too presitige a product to pass up on. It is another huge undertaking for them, I suspect, and it might not happen in a rapid enough fashion for HBO but at a pace comfortable for the production company. We will keep a close eye on this one for sure.
Sounds exciting. I hope Spielberg and Hanks are up for this as well and not only the HBO execs.
I feel save in saying that I don’t think Playtone Productions is going to want to pass this up. It is too presitige a product to pass up on. It is another huge undertaking for them, I suspect, and it might not happen in a rapid enough fashion for HBO but at a pace comfortable for the production company. We will keep a close eye on this one for sure.