When Bandai Namco announced Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve at The Game Awards, fans of the long-running flight combat series were thrilled. The game, which is the first to be built exclusively for current-gen consoles, promises stunning visuals and intense dogfights. But the studio is also expanding the universe with a live-action prequel series, Hour Zero, set to premiere on September 15. The show will explore the early days of the invasion of the Republic of Sotoa by the Federation of Central Usea, telling the stories of three survivors whose lives are upended by war.
Among the cast is Josh Holloway, best known for his role in Lost, who plays a pilot with no safe place to land. In an exclusive interview with Collider, Holloway shared his excitement about joining the Ace Combat universe. "I've always wanted to be a fighter pilot since those movies came out," he said, referring to classics like Top Gun. "Even before that, when I was a kid, I thought I was going to go to pilot school and everything, and then I realized it's all math, and I'm like, 'oh shoot!' So I did not become a fighter pilot, but it's something that I've always gravitated towards and had fantasies about."
Holloway's character in Hour Zero is a seasoned pilot who must lead younger aviators through the chaos of war. The actor, who is a father himself, found it easy to connect with the role's emotional weight. "I lost my father not long ago. That was very easy to tap into because he loses his father, and so there are things built in the character. And I'm older with children, so me being in that position of a leader responsible for younger people also is very much a part of this role. Natural for me," he explained.
The production value of Hour Zero also impressed Holloway, who got to sit in a real fighter jet cockpit. "You really, you sat in a real cockpit of a fighter jet, realized just how tough these pilots are, because that is not comfortable! Just to sit, I can't imagine pulling Gs, and being by a Mig or something on top of the metal box. But it just gave me such a respect for fighter pilots and what they actually do, how they operate," he said.
While Holloway came into the project as a relative non-gamer, he has a personal history with the franchise. "It's actually a reentry point since I was young," he revealed. "I mean, I got really into Centipede and Miss Pac-Man and Galaga and all that back in the early days, and I had to play Ace Combat in the arcade because they had the big game you'd sit in and such. It felt real, like a flight simulator."
However, he had drifted away from gaming due to the complexity of modern titles. "Video games got really complicated, and the way you build, so I just kind of went away from it until this project, because I was like, 'Well, if I'm going to do this, I need to feel this game.' So I started playing it, and now I'm addicted. Thanks a lot. And I'm playing it all the time, and it's because it's real," he said.
Holloway's son has been helping him navigate the game's deep customization options. "My son is like, 'Dad, you just don't know how to do it' because you have to build your jets, and there's so many different jets, and it's so amazing how detailed they are. I mean, from your engine to avionics to your cannons, you upgrade all this stuff across the board," he noted.
The Hour Zero series also stars Brandon Routh as a doctor who saves his enemy and Tamlyn Tomita as a silenced news reporter. The show aims to create an emotional connection to the world of Ace Combat, setting the stage for the events of Wings of Theve. For fans of the franchise, this is a must-watch, and for newcomers, it's an accessible entry point into a rich, high-flying universe.
As Holloway puts it, the experience has been a dream come true. "It's just such a cool role to get to play, and so finally I was able to do it with this, and so I really just enjoyed the process, and really. I loved their production value," he said. With Hour Zero premiering soon, audiences will get to see Holloway in full "Top Gun" mode, bringing his charisma and depth to the cockpit.
