George Clooney is in a 'Catch-22' on Hulu (and now you can watch 'ER' there, too)

Gary Levin | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption Hulu to work with George Clooney on ‘Catch-22’ series Hulu is nearing a deal with Paramount Television and Anonymous Content to pick up George Clooney's small screen adaptation of the Joseph Heller novel 'Catch-22'.

PASADENA, Calif. — George Clooney is back on TV with his first series role in nearly two decades.

Hulu confirmed it's ordered a six-part miniseries adaptation of Catch-22, based on Joseph Heller's classic 1961 novel that was also made into a 1970 film.

More: George Clooney to return to TV in 'Catch-22' miniseries

Clooney will portray Col. Cathcart (played by Martin Balsam in the film), and will direct the series with production partner Grant Heslov. Shooting is scheduled to begin later this year, and it marks Clooney's first role since 1999, when he left NBC's ER. All 15 seasons (comprising 330 episodes) of the top-rated medical drama is available to stream now, for the first time, on Hulu, the service announced Sunday at the Television Critics Association.

Hulu also said Emmy-winning The Handmaid's Tale will begin its second season on April 25, and is "shaped by Offred’s (Elisabeth Moss) pregnancy and her ongoing fight to free her future child from the dystopian horrors of Gilead." And the fourth and final season of Casual, a comedy starring Michaela Watkins and Tommy Dewey, begins July 31.

The Clooney series is a coup. Catch-22's story revolves around a World War II U.S. Air Force bombardier who, if he avoids an increasing number of military assignments, will find himself in violation of Catch-22, "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," according to Hulu's official description. "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." The phrase has been popularized as a synonym for a paradox.

Other new projects at Hulu, which Walt Disney Co. will assume control of if it completes its acquisition of 21st Century Fox assets: The Looming Tower, a limited series based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning exposé by Lawrence Wright; and Castle Rock, a drama from Stephen King and J.J. Abrams.