Seth MacFarlane to adapt Herman Wouk’s WWII epic for TV

‘Family Guy’ creator’s new project is a new made-for-TV series based on the famous WWII novels.

By Paul Shindman, World Israel News

Seth MacFarlane, known as the creator of the award-winning ‘Family Guy’ cartoon show, has signed a deal to adapt author Herman Wouk’s World War II epic novels The Winds of War and War and Remembrance for television, the entertainment website Hollywood Reporter reported Wednesday.

As well as being a comedy writer and animator, the multitalented MacFarlane is also an actor, producer, director, comedian, and singer.

MacFarlane will co-write the script and executive produce the saga of the Henry family and its intensive intertwinement with the turbulent events of World War II from the attack on Pearl Harbor to the death camps of Europe.

“I can’t think of a more exciting project … than Herman Wouk’s The Winds of War,” MacFarlane said. “I’ve been a devoted fan of Wouk’s WWII epic for decades, and its depiction of small-scale human endurance in the face of large-scale global upheaval has never been more relevant than it is today.”

It will be a huge direction change for MacFarlane, who is known for his comedy writing. The books by the Pulitzer Prize-winning Wouk were previously made into a two television mini-series in the 1980s, both of which won Emmy awards.

Wouk, a religious Jew who served in the U.S. Navy during the war,  published the best-selling Winds of War in 1971 and War and Remembrance in 1978. The books tell the stories of several fictional families that through their inter-connections describe the war from the Pacific Ocean battles with Japan to the desperate attempts by Jews in Europe to evade the Nazis.

“This is an epic story of valor, perseverance, survival and family that will be retold through a current lens,” said Dawn Olmstead, president of Universal Content Productions, a television production arm of NBCUniversal. “I’m very excited about our partnership with Seth as he looks to expand his oeuvre in the next phase of his career.”

MacFarlane had a major encounter with fate, missing his flight on September 11, 2001 from Boston to Los Angeles. That plane, America Airlines Flight 11, was hijacked by Al Qaeda terrorists who steered it into the World Trade Center in New York, killing everybody on board.

Herman WoukTV seriesWorld War II