Tom Hanks to Play Lincoln in Booker Prize Adaptation

Tom Hanks is stepping into one of American history’s most iconic roles. The Oscar-winning actor will play Abraham Lincoln in a film adaptation of George Saunders’ Booker Prize-winning novel Lincoln in the Bardo.

Hanks will also produce the project through his Playtone company, with Oscar-nominated filmmaker Duke Johnson directing. Saunders, a longtime Syracuse University professor, wrote the screenplay and will executive produce, bringing his singular, genre-bending novel directly to the screen.

A Supernatural Night in 1862

First published in 2017, Lincoln in the Bardo unfolds over a single night in 1862, as President Lincoln visits the grave of his young son Willie. What follows is a chorus of ghosts trapped in the “bardo,” a Tibetan Buddhist liminal state between death and rebirth.

The novel blends historical record with imagined voices, creating a polyphonic meditation on grief, love, and empathy. It won the 2017 Man Booker Prize and became a New York Times bestseller, cementing Saunders’ reputation as one of America’s most inventive contemporary writers.

The film is expected to combine live-action with stop-motion animation, echoing the book’s otherworldly structure. Johnson previously co-directed the acclaimed animated feature Anomalisa, suggesting this adaptation may lean into the novel’s eerie, intimate tone rather than sweeping historical spectacle.

Hanks’ First Turn as a U.S. President

Despite a career filled with real-life figures, this marks Hanks’ first time portraying a U.S. president on screen. He previously narrated and hosted the 2013 docudrama Killing Lincoln and is even a distant relative of the 16th president.

Production is underway in London, with additional casting still under wraps. The project adds to a growing wave of high-profile literary adaptations, from Anne Hathaway’s upcoming turn in Colleen Hoover’s Verity to prestige reimaginings of modern classics.

For Saunders, whose novel has also inspired a Metropolitan Opera adaptation set to debut in October 2026, the film represents another evolution of a story that began with a single historical anecdote. The book itself drew inspiration from documented accounts of Lincoln visiting Willie’s crypt, a haunting image that became the emotional core of the novel.

You can read more about the film project at Variety and follow ongoing production updates via The Hollywood Reporter.

For book lovers, this is the rare adaptation that keeps its author at the center. With Saunders scripting and Hanks leading, Lincoln in the Bardo could become one of the most unusual — and emotionally resonant — literary films in years.