Tom Hanks is headed back to Broadway.
Starting in 2027, the Academy Award-winning actor will not only star alongside actress Kelli O’Hara, but he’s also a co-writer on the play.
Here’s what we know about Hanks’ Broadway return so far.
What we know about ‘This World of Tomorrow’
Called “This World of Tomorrow,” the play is described as a “time-travel romance” based on short stories written by Hanks and published in his 2017 collection “Uncommon Type.” Hanks adapted the play for the stage with playwright James Glossman.
The play tells the story of Bert Allenberry (who will be played by Hanks), who lives at the end of the 21st century and travels back in time to try to change his past. “When Bert journeys back — again, and again, and again — to one remarkable day at the 1939 New York World’s Fair in Queens, he discovers that the future is shaped not by technology, but by the choices we make for love,” according to the play’s synopsis, per Deadline.
O’Hara — a Tony Award-winning actress best known for her work on Broadway, who also performed at the 2019 Christmas concert with the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square — will star as Carmen, a woman that Bert meets in the past. She and Hanks also co-starred in the play’s off-Broadway production, which ran for eight weeks at The Shed in Manhattan last year.
Tony Award-winning director Kenny Leon, who also directed the play at The Shed, will be returning for the Broadway production.
What people are saying about ‘This World of Tomorrow’
“I’m so excited to continue this work on this amazing new American play,” Leon said in a statement, per Deadline. “There’s no time like the present to further explore this story of love and time travel from Glossman and Hanks. More than anything, I look forward to even more audiences who will have the chance to witness the onstage chemistry of Kelli O’Hara and Tom Hanks.”
Hanks spoke to Playbill last year about the themes of the play.
“If they hadn’t gone to the World’s Fair in 1939, they would not have met the great love of their life. And I’m going to tell you right now, even you have moments like that in your life,” he told the outlet. “That’s the study of history. And I have always been fascinated by that odd aspect of human behavior that says: Things only happen when you’re in the right place at the right time, and you have no idea if you are in the right place or if the time is right to be there — history just sort of decides that for you. And I think that’s fascinating.”
He also talked to former late-night host Stephen Colbert in November 2025 about what it was like to star in a play that he helped to write, admitting that he had already forgotten some lines during a performance, People magazine reported.
When Colbert asked if it felt different to perform work that he had written, Hanks replied, “Yes it is. No. 1 because, they are gonna have a real hard time firing me if I screw up.”
When was the last time Tom Hanks was on Broadway?
Hanks has only appeared on Broadway one other time — in Nora Ephron’s play “Lucky Guy” in 2013, for which he was nominated for a Tony Award.
When will ‘This World of Tomorrow’ open on Broadway?
The play will open in fall 2027 for a limited run, The New York Times reported. Official dates — and which theater the play will be performed in — have not been announced yet.