The Second World War is to the History Channel what hurricanes are to the Weather Channel and sharks are to Discovery. But on Memorial Day, the cable stalwart will debut a documentary series altogether more ambitious than any of the stand-alone History Channel WWII docs Tony Soprano used to binge. World War II With Tom Hanks brings to bear all the gravitas of its titular narrator, America’s undisputed chief chronicler of the conflict thanks to roles in films like Saving Private Ryan and Greyhound and the HBO trilogy he produced: Band of Brothers, The Pacific and Masters of the Air. Executive produced by Tom Hanks, 69, and Pulitzer-winning historian Jon Meacham, the 57-year-old author of numerous acclaimed presidential biographies, the 20-part project covers every major theater of the war, from the Nazi invasion of Poland in September 1939 to the Japanese surrender in September 1945. Created in collaboration with National World War II Museum in New Orleans, it is the first docuseries to take such an all-encompassing, global perspective since 1974’s masterful The World at War on ITV, narrated by Laurence Olivier. By airing in 2026, World War II With Tom Hanks benefits from the clarity that time can bring to history, in the form of footage and accounts that have come to light over the past 80 years. It also comes at a moment when the American-led postwar global order is beginning to fragment, Holocaust denial and far-right politics are on the rise, and the lessons of the war are at risk of being forgotten. Hanks and Meacham joined THR for a Zoom conversation about the war Hanks describes in the first episode as “the largest event in human history.”