The Pacific (miniseries)

The Pacific is a 2010 American war drama miniseries produced by HBO, Playtone, and DreamWorks that premiered in the United States on March 14, 2010. The Pacific is the second of three companion piece miniseries developed by Playtone and DreamWorks, following Band of Brothers (2001) and preceding Masters of the Air (2024).

The series focuses on the United States Marine Corps's actions in the Pacific Theater of Operations within the wider Pacific War. Whereas Band of Brothers followed the men of Easy Company of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment through the European Theater, The Pacific centers on the experiences of Marines Robert Leckie (James Badge Dale), Eugene Sledge (Joseph Mazzello), and John Basilone (Jon Seda), who were in different regiments (1st, 5th, and 7th, respectively) of the 1st Marine Division. The Pacific miniseries features the 1st Marine Division's battles in the Pacific from their interconnected perspectives, namely Guadalcanal (Leckie and Basilone), Cape Gloucester (Leckie), Peleliu (Leckie and Sledge), Iwo Jima (Basilone), and Okinawa (Sledge).

The show was spearheaded by Bruce C. McKenna (credited as a co-executive producer), one of the main writers on Band of Brothers. Hugh Ambrose, the son of Band of Brothers author Stephen Ambrose, was a project consultant. It is based primarily on the memoirs of Sledge and Leckie: With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa and Helmet for My Pillow respectively. It also draws on Sledge's memoir China Marine, as well as Red Blood, Black Sand, the memoir of Chuck Tatum (Ben Esler), a Marine who fought alongside Basilone at Iwo Jima. Also used for reference, albeit in an uncredited capacity, was Hugh Ambrose's nonfiction book The Pacific, written as a tie-in to the miniseries. Basilone died in Iwo Jima and thus did not record his experiences.

The Pacific received highly positive reviews, particularly for its darker, more psychological tone and accurate depiction of the graphic violence exhibited in the Pacific War, although it received criticism for its more disjointed narrative structure compared to Band of Brothers. Like its predecessor, it would win the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Miniseries.