I’m Obsessed With Ken Burns’ American Revolution Documentary, And I Made A Fun Game Guessing The All-Star Cast

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Ken Burns delivers another comprehensive documentary, this time focusing on the American Revolution. The new six-part series, totaling 12 hours, premiered this week on PBS. As expected from Burns, it’s a detailed and insightful exploration of the pivotal war that shaped the United States. The documentary also features a fantastic group of narrators, adding to its quality.

The Cast Is Phenomenal

As with all of Ken Burns’ excellent documentaries, personal letters and writings play a key role in bringing the story to life. This is certainly true of The American Revolution, which boasts a star-studded cast of Hollywood actors. Usually, I’d be pausing frequently to look up the voice actors on IMDB or Wikipedia. But from the very first episode, I was so captivated by the narrative that I completely forgot about my phone.

I instantly knew it was Peter Coyote narrating – he has such a unique and awesome voice, and I’ve heard him in a lot of Ken Burns’ documentaries before, like The West and The Roosevelts (he even won an Emmy for that one!). Paul Giamatti as John Adams was another easy one; he was John Adams in that fantastic HBO miniseries, which everyone should check out if they have HBO Max. There were a few other voices I recognized right away – seriously, who doesn’t know Tom Hanks’ voice? – but I’m going to hold onto those secrets for now, just in case you want to try and guess along with me!

I’ve Had Fun Guessing The Voices

Rather than checking the actor list, I focused on the voices to see if I could identify each character. Some actors clearly portray famous historical figures, like Giamatti, while others play a combination of less recognizable people from that time period, such as Hanks. It’s often straightforward, but sometimes I really had to listen closely to the voices to figure out who was speaking—especially since the cast is full of well-known actors.

Throughout the show, you’ll see some familiar and talented actors, including Kenneth Branagh, Meryl Streep, Josh Brolin, Morgan Freeman, and Michael Keaton, among many others. Claire Danes and her husband, Hugh Dancy, both have significant roles. I won’t reveal any more details to avoid spoiling it for those who haven’t seen it yet.

What I really appreciate about this game is how it keeps me invested in the documentary series, making the whole experience much more enjoyable. I’m a big fan of documentaries, war movies, and history – particularly American history. Like all of Ken Burns’ films, The American Revolution is incredibly informative, and the actors’ readings of primary source material really make the events come alive.

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2025-11-20 22:40