Several outlets are reporting the news that Tom Hanks will headline the TV movie ‘Killing Lincoln’ that is being adapted from the book of Bill O’Reilly. In the Nat Geo production Hanks will play host and narrator of the story that will showcase both CGI effects and “historical archive material”, per Variety.

Talking about his new role in ‘Killing Lincoln’ Hanks stated, “It’s odd to say the killing of Abraham Lincoln is an unknown story, but it may as well be.” Adding, “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.”

Hanks join director Adrian Moat of ‘Gettysburg’ fame and actors Billy Campbell in the title role, Jesse Johnson as John Wilkes Booth, and Geraldine Hughes in the role of Mary Todd Lincoln. The Ridley Scott and Tony Scott Free Production will air in 2013.