The Greek Orthodox Christian who turned history into ministry is back, with his most ambitious project yet.
For Tom Hanks, World War II has never just been a subject. It has been a calling.
The 69-year-old actor narrates and executive-produces World War II with Tom Hanks, a sweeping 20-episode documentary series premiering Memorial Day - Monday, May 25 - on the History Channel at 8 p.m. ET. It is his most ambitious WWII project yet, and by his own account, his most personal.
"During my formative years, every single adult in my life would make references to two words: The War," Hanks has said. "The lasting effects of WWII on the world and my own family were not lost on me."
That personal weight runs through everything he has made. From Saving Private Ryan to Band of Brothers, The Pacific to Masters of the Air - Hanks has returned repeatedly, for over two decades, to the defining conflict of the 20th century, driven by something that goes beyond filmmaking.
Told over 20 hours, the series captures the full arc of the war - from the rise of fascism in Europe to the fall of Berlin, from Pearl Harbor to Hiroshima, and the uneasy peace that followed - uncovering new dimensions of the conflict including the decisions that shaped the battlefield, the unseen networks that sustained the war effort, and the aftershocks still felt today.
The series launches globally across 200 territories in 40 languages and is part of the History Honors 250 campaign - a year-long initiative commemorating the 250th anniversary of the United States. Three episodes premiere on May 25, with the remaining 17 airing weekly on Mondays.
What makes Hanks a fitting guide for a story of this magnitude isn't just his filmography. It's his faith. A practicing Greek Orthodox Christian who has attended church throughout his adult life, Hanks has spoken openly about pondering mystery, meditating on the "why," and believing that grace shows up in the hands of those who act on it. A man shaped by those values telling the story of the generation that sacrificed everything - there is something right about that pairing.
The series premieres on Memorial Day - a date chosen with intention, as audiences across the country pause to honor those who gave their lives in conflicts like the one Hanks has devoted so much of his career to remembering.
It is a fitting tribute. And for a man of faith who has spent decades asking what it means to do good in a broken world, it may be his most important work yet.
World War II with Tom Hanks premieres May 25 on the History Channel at 8 p.m. ET. New episodes stream the following day on the History Channel app and HISTORY.com.
