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Ken Burns’ “The American Revolution” Premieres on PBS Next Week

The decade-long, $30 million project reexamines the founding through graphic realism with a broadened cast of voices.

The 1851 painting by Emanuel Leutze titled "Washington Crossing the Delaware." Ken Burns is back with “The American Revolution,” a six-part, roughly 12-hour documentary that debuts on WTTW-Ch. 11 and carries on over the next five nights. (The Metropolitan Museum of Art)
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Overview

  • The six-part, roughly 12-hour series airs Nov. 16–21 on PBS stations including WTTW, with new installments on consecutive nights.
  • Burns directs alongside Sarah Botstein and David Schmidt, with longtime collaborator Geoffrey C. Ward providing the script.
  • A decade in production with a budget exceeding $30 million, the film incorporates nearly 20,000 archival items and large-scale reenactments across the original thirteen colonies to portray about 36 battles.
  • Peter Coyote narrates, with celebrity voice performances from Tom Hanks, Meryl Streep, Mandy Patinkin as Benjamin Franklin, Josh Brolin as George Washington, and others.
  • The filmmakers describe an accessible, nonpartisan retelling that confronts the Revolution’s violence and its racial, political, and Native American dimensions as the nation approaches its 250th anniversary.