The only role Tom Hanks would love to reprise: “Again and again and again”
Like most A-list actors, Tom Hanks has starred in a few sequels. Boarding at least one recurring franchise is part and parcel of being among Hollywood’s biggest and most popular stars, but the two-time Academy Award winner has always harboured a deep-seated desire to reprise a role that, in all honesty, he’s got no chance of playing again.
The most prolific part of Hanks’ career is Toy Story‘s Woody, which he’s set to voice for a fifth time in a theatrically-released feature in Pixar’s 2026 sequel, never mind the three short films and three TV specials that lured him back into the recording booth.
After that, there’s floppy-haired adventurer Robert Langdon, brought to thoroughly uninteresting life by Hanks in Ron Howard’s star-studded Dan Brown trilogy. The saga brought in almost $1.5 billion at the box office despite being proclaimed as “hooey” by the leading man, and the only reason he didn’t make a fourth instalment was because he wasn’t contractually obligated to do so.
The two-time Academy Award winner will also be back as the submarine commander Ernest Krause in a follow-up to the World War II dramatic thriller Greyhound, an odd decision considering he openly lamented the fact that the passion project he also scripted and produced was pulled from the big screen and sent directly to streaming.
Reprising three roles in a 45-year career makes it clear that Hanks isn’t obsessed with franchising himself into the ground, but he would if he could for one movie in particular. That Thing You Do! could generously be described as a modest success, with the first-time filmmaker pulling triple duty as writer, director, and supporting player.
The musical drama has become something of a cult classic in the three decades since its release, and if there were one character Hanks would give anything to play again, he opted for Amos White. “If I could go back and play another character again and again and again, though, the one that I had a great amount of fun with was Mr White, Mr Amos White, who is the manager of The Wonders.”
“He was a mercurial beast,” Hanks elaborated. “I’d like to go back and plumb the depths of him a little more.” Hypothetically, White’s position as a music manager and record company representative leaves the door open for further explorations of his journey through the industry.
On the other hand, That Thing You Do! didn’t make anywhere near enough money to justify a sequel, even if Hanks upgraded himself from background actor to leading man. The role has become the one that got away, and realistically, the best chance he’s got of reprising it is if he pays for the damn thing himself, because there isn’t a studio willing to risk its money on a project that few people have ever asked for.
