Look who’s back on TV (well, streaming): George Clooney.
Clooney is back in front of and behind the camera for Catch-22, Hulu’s new six-part miniseries based on Joseph Heller‘s seminal novel of the same name and your first look at the series is below. Catch-22 marks Clooney’s first time back on a scripted series since he returned to ER for its final season in 2009. And from the looks of the trailer below, it was worth the wait to get Clooney back on a TV series.
The series follows dodger Yossarian (Girls star Christopher Abbott), a US Air Force bombardier in World War II. Yossarian is, somewhat understandably, furious because thousands of people he’s never met are trying to kill him.
However, his real problem isn’t the enemy out there, but it’s his own army as they keep upping the number of missions he must complete to fulfill his service. If Yossarian attempts to avoid his military assignments, he’ll be in violation of Catch-22. Hulu describes the rule as, “a hilariously sinister bureaucratic rule which specifies that a concern for one’s own safety in the face of dangers which are real and immediate is the process of a rational mind; a man is considered insane if he willingly continues to fly dangerous combat missions, but a request to be removed from duty is evidence of sanity and therefore makes him ineligible to be relieved from duty.”
Clooney plays Scheisskopf, but was originally cast as Colonel Cathcart. Kyle Chandler took over that role. The cast also includes Hugh Laurie as Major de Coverley, Giancarlo Giannini as Marcello, Daniel David Stewart as Milo, Rafi Gavron as Aarfy, Austin Stowell as Nately, Graham Patrick Martin as Orr, Gerran Howell as Kid Sampson, Jon Rudnitsky as McWatt, Kevin J. O’Connor as Korn, Pico Alexander as Clevinger, Tessa Ferrer as Nurse Duckett, Lewis Pullman as Major Major, Josh Bolt as Dunbar, Jay Paulson as Chaplain, Julie Ann Emery as Marion and Grant Heslov as Doc Daneeka.
In addition to Clooney, executive producers include Grant Heslov, Richard Brown, Steve Golin, Luke Davies and David Michôd.
Catch-22 became a movie in the 1970s starring Alan Arkin and Richard Dreyfuss starred in a televised pilot for a series based on the book in 1973.
Catch-22 will debut all six episodes in May on Hulu.