According to Deadline, Clooney will take on the role of antagonist Colonel Cathcart in the show, who keeps raising the number of missions men like protagonist Captain John Yossarian must go on in order to finish their tour of duty and go home: the un-winnable situation the title has become synonymous with. Deadline notes that Clooney and Heslov's Smokehouse Pictures will executive produce, as well, along with Anonymous Content. This will be the first full television series based on the novel, which had a 1970 movie starring Alan Arkin and a television pilot starring Richard Dreyfuss in 1973 that never went to series.