The sixth episode of Masters of the Air was crucial to the show’s overall success, as it helped the historical drama avoid a potentially devastating mistake regarding Austin Butler’s character, the charismatic Major Gale “Buck” Cleven. For those unfamiliar with the true story of the 100th Bomb Group, seeing Buck Cleven counted among the lost and potentially dead members of the air group’s raid on Bremen must have come as a shock given how prominently the character had been featured in the show. However, his death was never confirmed by any of his fellow airmen.
As was the case with many of the pilots shot down in World War II Europe, the real Buck Cleven made it to the ground safely, only to be taken prisoner by Nazi forces. Cleven was questioned for information before being transported to a POW camp. The final moments of episode 6 of Masters of the Air proved that the show will remain faithful to that history, as it included an emotional reunion between Butler’s Buck Cleven and Callum Turner’s Bucky Egan inside the POW camp in Sagan. That development was essential for the show’s long-term success.
Masters Of The Air Cast & Real Life Character Guide
Masters of the Air is the long-awaited WWII series from Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks that has cast a staggering amount of notable actors.
Masters Of The Air Needed Austin Butler’s Buck Cleven To Return
Butler’s Cleven is one of the most interesting characters in the show.
Despite largely focusing on the air battles and raids of the “Bloody Hundredth”, Masters of the Air needed to bring back Austin Butler’s Gale Cleven for several reasons. First and foremost is the value of the character; Buck Cleven is a charismatic and level-headed leader who audiences have come to know over the course of the first few episodes. On top of that, Austin Butler is one of, if not the most talented actors in the show, and it would be a huge miss to not utilize him to the fullest.
It would have felt like a let-down to get attached to the character only to have him disappear halfway through the show, which already happened once with Barry Keoghan’s Lt. Curtis Biddick. However, the loss of Lt. Biddick is true to the real soldier’s history, and Masters of the Air, like Band of Brothers and The Pacific, has shown a commitment to historical accuracy wherever possible. To never revisit Buck Cleven once his plane went down would omit a large part of his story in World War II, and might even come across as insulting to the man’s legacy.
Austin Butler’s Buck Cleven Story Will Be Very Different In Masters Of The Air’s Future
Cleven will provide the perspective of an American POW as opposed to an active pilot.
As Masters of the Air‘s title indicates, the show will continue to focus on the pilots performing the raids across Europe, like Nate Mann’s Robert “Rosie” Rosenthal. However, including Buck Cleven and Bucky Egan’s story as prisoners of war provides an important perspective on an entirely different experience that many American pilots faced during World War II. The trailer for the show featured several shots of the characters in forest scenes, which indicates that the prisoner of war storyline is far from over.
The show will certainly continue to depict the true story behind the Stalag Luft III prison, and if the show remains true to history it will chronicle Cleven and Egan’s attempts at escape. Given how prominently he was featured in the show’s promotional materials, it’s a near-guarantee that Austin Butler’s Buck Cleven will remain a central character in the ensemble cast. This bodes extremely well for Masters of the Air‘s sustained streaming success, which has already broken Apple TV+ records.
