Tom Hanks to Portray Abraham Lincoln in ‘Lincoln in the Bardo’ Adaptation
Tom Hanks is set to play President Abraham Lincoln in a film adaptation of Lincoln in the Bardo, the acclaimed novel by George Saunders. The project is being developed by Starburns Industries and will blend live action with stop-motion animation.
Hanks will also produce the film through his Playtone banner alongside longtime collaborator Gary Goetzman. Saunders is adapting his own novel for the screen, while Oscar-nominated filmmaker Duke Johnson, best known for co-directing Anomalisa, is attached to direct and produce.
The role marks the first time Hanks will portray a U.S. president in a narrative feature, though his career includes numerous portrayals of real-life figures. Among them are astronaut Jim Lovell in Apollo 13, airline captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger in Sully, Washington Post editor Ben Bradlee in The Post, television host Fred Rogers in A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood and Walt Disney in Saving Mr. Banks. Hanks previously narrated and hosted the 2013 docudrama Killing Lincoln and is distantly related to Lincoln through the president’s maternal line.
Published in 2017, Lincoln in the Bardo won the Booker Prize and centers on a brief but deeply personal episode in Lincoln’s life: the death of his 11-year-old son, Willie, in 1862. Rather than focusing on the political milestones of Lincoln’s presidency, including the Civil War and the abolition of slavery, themes explored in Lincoln, Saunders’ novel examines grief, memory, and the afterlife.
The story unfolds largely in a cemetery, where Lincoln visits his son’s crypt and encounters a chorus of spirits inhabiting the “bardo,” a transitional state between life and death drawn from Tibetan Buddhist tradition. The novel’s structure is unconventional, weaving historical documents with imagined dialogue among both real and fictional characters.
According to the production team, the film will combine stop-motion animation and live-action elements to reflect the novel’s metaphysical setting and shifting perspectives. The adaptation is expected to explore themes of mourning, empathy, and the psychological toll of leadership during wartime.
Johnson, Paul Young, and Devon Young Rabinowitz will produce for Starburns Industries. The project will be the first to move into production under the company’s newly announced film fund. Executive producers include Steven Shareshian, Aaron Mitchell, and Saunders. Production is slated to take place in London.
The adaptation represents a significant undertaking, given the novel’s fragmented structure and chorus of voices. Translating that form to screen, particularly through a hybrid of animation and live performance, will mark an ambitious step for both Johnson and Hanks.
No release date has been announced.
