World War II with Tom Hanks to Premiere on HISTORY
The HISTORY Channel will premiere World War II with Tom Hanks on Monday, May 25 at 8 pm ET/PT, launching with three back-to-back episodes and kicking off a global rollout across 200 territories in 40 languages, reaching nearly 400 million households worldwide.
The landmark 20-episode documentary series reexamines World War II through the lens of a new century, offering a deeply human portrait of how the modern world was forged in the fires of global conflict.
This series is executive produced by Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman with Nutopia and A+E Factual Studios Group, alongside Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Jon Meacham, in association with Motion Entertainment, a WPP Media company.
For more than eighty years, the Second World War has remained the most devastating and defining conflict in human history. World War II with Tom Hanks offers a sweeping and definitive retelling of the war, drawing on rarely seen archival material, evocative storytelling, and insights from leading historians.
Narrated by Tom Hanks (upcoming Toy Story 5, The Americas, Apollo 13) —whose lifelong passion for history has informed some of the most profound screen portrayals of the era—the series captures the full arc of the global conflict.
World War II with Tom Hanks spans the global conflict from the opening shock of Germany’s invasion of Poland through the rise and fall of the Axis powers, capturing the ferocity of battles fought on land, sea, and air—from Stalingrad and Normandy to the Atlantic, the Mediterranean, and the jungles and islands of the Pacific.
The series explores the human cost of total war, including the Holocaust, civilian resistance, and life on the home fronts, while also revealing the hidden wars of espionage, codebreaking, and industrial might that shaped the outcome of the conflict.
Blending the actions and decisions of pivotal wartime leaders—among them Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Erwin Rommel, Joseph Stalin, Hideki Tojo and Adolf Hitler—with the experiences of soldiers and civilians across continents, the series culminates in the dawn of the atomic age and the uneasy aftermath that transformed wartime allies into Cold War adversaries, offering a comprehensive and deeply human portrait of the conflict that reshaped the modern world.
The HISTORY Channel collaborated with The National WWII Museum in New Orleans, Louisiana, on the series, incorporating guidance from museum historians and subject-matter experts and supporting an upcoming educational outreach initiative. In addition, The HISTORY Channel produced short-form content featuring first-person stories from World War II as part of its “Save Our History” initiative, which will be featured across platforms.
World War II with Tom Hanks is part of the HISTORY Honors 250 campaign. Leading up to the landmark 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States in July 2026, The HISTORY Channel is marking this historic milestone with HISTORY Honors 250, a dynamic, multiplatform initiative spanning nearly two years.
The epic commemoration includes long-form and short-form programming, digital and social content, custom partnerships, premium events, and more. HISTORY Honors 250 highlights breakthrough innovations, major achievements, and unsung heroes that have shaped the United States since the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
A+E Global Media holds worldwide distribution rights to World War II with Tom Hanks. It is produced for The HISTORY Channel by Nutopia and A+E Factual Studios group, in association with Motion Entertainment, a WPP Media company. Ben Goold, Jane Root, and Steve Condie serve as executive producers for Nutopia.
Sharon Scott, Steve Ascher, Matt Pearl, and Andy Seestedt serve as executive producers for A+E Factual Studios. Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman serve as executive producers. Jon Meacham serves as executive producer.
Chet Fenster serves as executive producer for Motion Entertainment. Eli Lehrer, Mary E. Donahue, and Jennifer Wagman serve as executive producers for The HISTORY Channel.
