Tom Hanks comes on board Nat Geo’s Killing Lincoln

Tom Hanks has come on board National Geographic Channel’s Scott Free Production series Killing Lincoln.

The Oscar winning actor, who has starred in films including Saving Private Ryan and The Da Vinci Code, will narrate the two hour television mini-series.

Killing Lincoln is the last television series to feature Tony Scott as executive producer after he died last month.

The series will air on the Nat Geo Channel in the United States as well as internationally, where it will run in 171 countries in 38 languages.

It is based on Killing Lincoln: The Shocking Assassination That Changed America Forever written by Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard. The show will combine drama with CGI and will star Jesse Johnson as John Wilkes Booth.

“It’s odd to say the killing of Abraham Lincoln is an unknown story, but it may as well be,” said Hanks. “The depth of the intrigue, the breadth of the conspiracy and the bare-naked exposure of human nature is so timeless, it’s a wonder how that seminal tragedy in our history could ever be explained in a few sentences: ‘Ford’s Theater… John Wilkes Booth,’ etc. The murder of Lincoln is not a passage of our history – it was a signpost of our American character, then, now and forever.”

“Having someone like Tom who is so passionate about history and such an incredible storyteller join National Geographic Channel on this project will add even more energy and gravitas to this epic historical moment being retold for contemporary audiences,” added National Geographic Channel president Howard T. Owens.