HBO to Develop New WWII Miniseries with Steven Spielberg & Tom Hanks

HBO has finally announced its follow-up to the previous miniseries BAND OF BROTHERS and THE PACIFIC.

The latest entry comes as an adaptation of Donald Miller's nonfiction piece, MASTERS OF THE AIR - with Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks set as executive producers. The Hollywood Reporter first broke the news.

MASTERS OF THE AIR is officially described as:

"Masters of the Air is the deeply personal story of the American bomber boys in World War II who brought the war to Hitler's doorstep. With the narrative power of fiction, Donald Miller takes readers on a harrowing ride through the fire-filled skies over Berlin, Hanover, and Dresden and describes the terrible cost of bombing for the German people....

[It] is a story, as well, of life in wartime England and in the German prison camps, where tens of thousands of airmen spent part of the war."

Hanks and Gary Goetzman's Playtone will produce alongside Spielberg's Amblin Television. Rumors of HBO's interest in traveling back to World War II for a third time have been floating around for years.

The critically-acclaimed series, "Band of Brothers," focuses on the harrowing experiences of E Company, better known as "Easy" Company of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, United States Army 101st Airborne Division during World War II. Through the eyes of the brave soldiers, viewers follow them from their arduous basic training to the American airborne landings in Normandy, to the bloody Battle of Bastogne and on to the end of the war. All of the characters portrayed in the mini-series are based on actual members of Easy Company, many of whom are featured in interviews at the beginning of each episode.

Winner of six Emmy(R) awards and the Golden Globe(R) for Best Miniseries, or Motion Picture Made for Television, "Band of Brothers" features an ensemble cast including Michael Fassbender, Ron Livingston, Jamie Bamber, Tom Hardy, Colin Hanks, Simon Pegg, Damian Lewis, Donnie Wahlberg, Ron Livingston,Scott Grimes, Peter Youngblood Hills, Rick Gomez, Michael Cudlitz, Robin Laing, Nicholas Aaron, James Madio, Shane Taylor, Dexter Fletcher, Ross McCall, Philip Barantini and Neal McDonough.

THE PACIFIC was based upon Robert Leckie's HELMENT FOR MY PILLOW and WITH THE OLD BREED: AT PELELIU AND OKINAWA by Eugene Sledge. The miniseries a group of men in three different divisions of the Marines in 1942-45, as they fought against the Japanese. THE PACIFIC swept the 2010 Emmys, receiving eight awards.