Ken Burns’ The American Revolution voice cast and characters: Meet the stars behind the docuseries and the characters they voiced

Documentary director Ken Burns returns to PBS with The American Revolution, a six-part, 12-hour docuseries following the creation myth of the United States. The Sarah Botstein and David Schmidt co-directed project premiered on the channel on November 16 and is airing over six consecutive nights.

If Burns' previous projects are anything to go by, The American Revolution promises his same gold standard seen in the likes of Hemingway, The American Buffalo, and Benjamin Franklin. He also recruited his longtime collaborator and TV veteran Peter Coyote as the narrator, alongside a list of Hollywood's biggest names to voice the most notable figures in US history.

Who voices whom in Ken Burns' The American Revolution series?

Josh Brolin as George Washington

Josh Brolin (Image via Gonzalo Marroquin/Getty Images)

Oscar-nominated actor Josh Brolin voices George Washington in The American Revolution. He's been part of over 70 movies in his career, including several voice-acting roles. One of his most recent voice acting gigs is the Disney series What If...?, where he voices Thanos, whom he also plays in the live-action Avengers movies.

Brolin's other famous and more recent works include the Dune series, Deadpool, No Country for Old Men, and The Running Man.

Jeff Daniels as Thomas Jefferson

Jeff Daniels Image via Arturo Holmes/Getty Images)

Primetime Emmy winner Jeff Daniels voices former US President Thomas Jefferson in The American Revolution. He's remembered for writing the Declaration of Independence.

Daniels can be seen in TV shows including American Rust, A Man in Full, and Netflix's Western drama Godless.

Paul Giamatti as John Adams

Paul Giamatti (Image via Amanda Edwards/Getty Images

Two-time Oscar-nominated actor Paul Giamatti voices former US President John Adams in The American Revolution. Adams was a Founding Father and a key leader in the American Revolution. Giamatti also voiced Adams in Burns' docuseries Benjamin Franklin.

Giamatti is famous for playing Chuck Rhoades in Billions from 2016 to 2023. His other works include A Mouthful of Air, Morgan, Sideways, and Cinderella Man.

Mandy Patinkin as Benjamin Franklin

Mandy Patinkin (Image via Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images)

Primetime Emmy winner Mandy Patinkin also returns to voice Benjamin Franklin in The American Revolution. He previously voiced the titular character in Burns' documentary of the US President.

Patinkin is famous for playing Saul Berenson in 96 episodes of Homeland. His other notable works include Seasoned, Death and Other Details, and Wonder.

Claire Danes as Abigail Adams

Claire Danes (Image via Unique Nicole/Getty Images)

Three-time Primetime Emmy winner Claire Danes voices former First Lady Abigail Adams in The American Revolution. Adams is known as one of the early advocates for women's rights. Meanwhile, Danes has nearly 50 shows and movies to her name, including the new Netflix series The Beast in Me.

Her other works include Homeland, where she stars as Carrie Matheson, The Essex Serpent, and Full Circle. Some may also remember her for playing Juliet opposite Leonardo DiCaprio in the 1996 epic, Romeo + Juliet.

Additional voice cast and characters in the docuseries

Michael Keaton as Benedict Arnold
Tony Beck as Ludwig von Closen
Bill Camp as Jabez Fitch
Martin Czembor as Georg Daniel Flohr
Keith David as Theodore Roneyn
Hope Davis as Elizabeth Drinker
Morgan Freeman as James Forten
Amanda Gorman as Phillis Wheatley
Jonathan Groff as Erkuries Beatty
Maya Hawke as Betsy Ambler
Joe Keery as John Greenwood
Tracy Letts as Elbridge Gerry
Michael Mando as Lafayette
Reece McCullagh as Patrick Ferguson
Oliver Mercier as Cromot du Bourg
Wendell Pierce as William Read
Matthew Rhys as Thomas Paine
Meryl Streep as Mercy Otis Warren
Yul Vazquez as Henry Knox and José de Gálvez
Dan Stevens as William Howe and Rochambeau
Chaske Spencer as Dragging Canoe and Shingas
Liev Schreiber as Nathanael Greene, Samuel Adams, and Lewis Beebe
Jon Proudstar as Canasetego
David Oyelowo as Olaudah Equiano and Sam
Edward Norton as Benjamin Rush, Philip Vickers Fithian, and Philip Schuyler
Joe Morton as Elisha Bostwick and Elias Dayton
Tobias Menzies as Lord Cornwallis, Ambrose Serle, William Pitt, and Horatio Gates
Lindsay Mendez as Catharine Macaulay and Mary M Campbell

Carolyn McCormick as Hannah Griffitts, Hannah Winthrop, and Esther Reed
Josh Lucas as George Rogers Clark, John Glover, and Drury Mathias
Laura Linney as Sarah Fisher, Sarah Mifflin, Ann Hilton, Eliza Wilkinson, and Eliza Lucas Pinckney
Damian Lewis as King George III, Nicholas Cresswell, John André, and Bartholomew James
Joel Kinnaman as Nils Collins, Thomas Hutchinson, and Samuel Seabury
Samuel L. Jackson as Boston King, Lemuel Haynes, and Caesar Sarter
Latanya Richardson Jackson as Elizabeth Freeman and Judith Jackson
Josh Hutcherson as James Potter Collins, Thomas Mellen, and Jabez Campfield
Lucas Hedges as Ebenezer Fletcher, John Laurens, and Garrett Watts
Tom Hanks as Andrew Eliot, Josiah Bartlett, Isaac Bangs, David Griffith, Thomas Jones, Ezra Tilden, Albigence Waldo, and Ebenezer Denny
Charlotte Hacke as Friederike Riedsel, Hannah Davis, Lucy Knox, and Martha Reed
Michael Greyeyes as Joseph Brant and Solomon Uhhaunauwaunmut
Domhnall Gleeson as Roger Lamb, Loftus Cliffe, John MacPherson, John Bowater, and William Barton
Alden Ehrenreich as Joseph Plumb Martin
Bruce Davison as John P. Becker, Charles Inglis, and Samuel Webb
Marcus Davis-Orrom as John Barker and William Bamford
Tantoo Cardinal as Mary Jemison
Kenneth Branagh as Thomas Gage, Henry Clinton, Joseph Reed, Samuel Graves, Samuel Johnson, Charles Lee, and Friedrich Adolf Riedesel
Corbin Bleu as John Joseph Henry, Daniel McCurtin, Nathaniel Bacheller, and Isaac Jefferson
Jeremiah Bitsui as Twethorechte
Leon Dische Becker as Johann Friedrich von Bardeleben and Johann Conrad Doehla
Adam Arkin as James Parker, Ashbel Green, Andrew Hunter, Samuel Shaw, Enoch Anderson, Robert Morris, and Timothy Dwight

The American Revolution premiered on PBS on Sunday, November 16, 2025. New episodes are released daily until the finale on November 21.

Edited by Kinette Sumadia