MacFarlane, NBCU adapt WW2 novels

Universal Studio Group’s UCP is developing a limited series based on Herman Wouk’s The Winds of War and War & Remembrance with Fuzzy Door’s Seth MacFarlane and Erica Huggins.

Seth MacFarlane (photo: Gage Skidmore via CC)

The Winds of War (working title) is the first development project to come out of the overall television deal that MacFarlane and Fuzzy Door inked with NBCUniversal (NBCU) in January.

Based on Wouk’s acclaimed American War novels, The Winds of War will be written and executive produced by MacFarlane and Seth Fisher. Huggins will executive produce for Fuzzy Door.

It tells the epic story of one American family’s turbulent voyage across the continents and across the years that spanned the Second World War.

Actor, writer, showrunner and voiceover artist MacFarlane is the creator of hit animated sitcom Family Guy and Hulu’s live-action space adventure series The Orville, in which he stars.

“This is an epic story of valour, perseverance, survival and family that will be retold through a current lens,” said Dawn Olmstead, president of UCP.

MacFarlane added: “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.

“In my very first meeting with Dawn Olmstead, we connected over this project – I learned that she herself comes from a Naval family – and to bring it to fruition under her stewardship and that of her UCP team will be a perfect fit for all. We can’t wait to get started.”