Meryl Streep, Tom Hanks, and Bill Hader Join Star-Studded Cast for 'Lincoln in the Bardo' — TIFF's Most Anticipated Film of 2026

Meryl Streep, Tom Hanks, and Bill Hader Lead the Most Star-Packed Animated Film of 2026

If you thought stop-motion animation was a niche art form, think again. Lincoln in the Bardo, the hybrid live-action and stop-motion animated film from director Duke Johnson, has just locked in an absolutely absurd cast that reads like a Hollywood roll call. And TIFF audiences will be the first ones to see it.

A Cast That Reads Like an Awards Season Dream

The latest additions to the film include Meryl Streep, who will voice not one but four different characters. She will play Abigail Blass, Elizabeth Crawford, an Angel sent to lure lost souls out of the bardo, and a Demon trying to trap young Willie Lincoln in the cemetery forever. Colman Domingo joins as Thomas Havens, the ghost of a former slave seeking a history-changing union with Lincoln. Bill Hader voices Eddie Baron and one of the Three Rakes, while Tom Waits takes on the role of Jaspar Randall, a ghost and former dancehall performer.

They join an already stacked lineup that includes Tom Hanks playing Abraham Lincoln in the live-action portion of the film, with Willem Dafoe, Peter Dinklage, and Jonathan Bailey voicing characters in the stop-motion animation side. That is essentially six Academy Award nominees and multiple winners sharing one project.

George Saunders' Best-Selling Novel Gets the Oscar-Worthy Treatment

The film is adapted from George Saunders' Man Booker Prize-winning novel, which tells the story of the death of Willie Lincoln, the 11-year-old son of President Abraham Lincoln. The narrative unfolds in the bardo, a Buddhist-inspired transitional state between life and death, where ghosts interact with one another as they process their unfinished business. Saunders himself has written the screenplay, ensuring the adaptation stays true to the source material's emotional depth and darkly imaginative tone.

The story explores grief, love, and the human capacity for connection in the face of unimaginable loss. It is the kind of material that demands both technical artistry and emotional vulnerability, which is exactly why a hybrid format blending stop-motion animation with live action makes sense. The living world of Lincoln's grief sits alongside the spectral world of the bardo, and each format captures a different dimension of the story.

Duke Johnson: The Director Behind the Magic

Duke Johnson is no stranger to pushing the boundaries of animation. He co-directed Anomalisa with Charlie Kaufman, a stop-motion film that was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. That project proved Johnson could handle deeply human, emotionally complex stories through the medium of puppet animation. Lincoln in the Bardo represents a significant step up in scale, with a cast of this magnitude and the added challenge of integrating live-action sequences alongside the stop-motion work.

The film is produced through Starburns Industries, the same studio behind innovative animated projects, with Hanks and Gary Goetzman producing through Playtone.

What This Means for 2026's Awards Race

With TIFF serving as the launchpad for awards season conversations, Lincoln in the Bardo is positioned to be one of the most talked-about films of the fall. The combination of Saunders' beloved source material, Johnson's proven directorial vision, and a cast that includes Meryl Streep, Tom Hanks, Colman Domingo, Bill Hader, Willem Dafoe, and Peter Dinklage makes it a frontrunner in multiple categories. For millennials who grew up watching Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep dominate the screen, this project brings them together in a way that feels both nostalgic and genuinely exciting. Keep this one on your radar.