Why Tom Hanks made a cameo in the second episode of 1883

Warning: This article contains spoilers for the second episode of 1883.

We all deserve friends like this.

For the second episode of 1883 on Paramount+, Tim McGraw asked an old friend to appear in a Civil War flashback sequence as a uniformed general named George Meade. And that man in uniform is none other than Tom Hanks.

It turns out that McGraw and his wife, Faith Hill—who play James and Margaret Dutton on the series from Taylor Sheridan—are longtime friends of Hanks and his wife, Rita Wilson.

"You never want to botch a scene when you got Tom Hanks in there with you," McGraw told Cinemablend. "But yeah, he's a great guy. We've been friends for a long time. Rita, his wife, and Faith are best friends, and Tom and I've been friends for 25 years, 24 years. I knew that there was this part in there, and I gave him a call said, 'Hey, would you be interested in showing up doing a cameo in this show that we're doing?' And he goes, 'Tell me when to be there,' and he just showed up.'"

Launched on Dec. 19, 1883 follows the Dutton family as they traverse the Old West in hopes of finding greener pastures in Montana. The third episode of the series that's designed as a prequel to Yellowstone drops on Sunday (and you can catch a sneak peek of the episode below).

The Dec. 19 premiere of 1883 was Paramount+'s most-watched original series ever. It also attracted 4.9 million viewers during a special event airing on the Paramount Network following an episode of Yellowstone.

New episodes of 1883 drop Sundays on Paramount+.

Related content:

• Welcome to the Yellowstone Age: Behind the scenes of 1883
• 1883 premier: Meet Isabel May, who plays the headstrong daughter of Tim McGraw and Faith Hill
• Let it rip: Why Cole Hauser's Rip Wheeler is the best character on Yellowstone