The Only Band Of Brothers Episode Directed By Tom Hanks Features A Very Random Cameo

Published Jul 25, 2026, 5:00 PM EDT Ben Sherlock is a Tomatometer-approved film and TV critic who runs the massively underrated YouTube channel I Got Touched at the Cinema. Before working at Screen Rant, Ben wrote for Game Rant, Taste of Cinema, Comic Book Resources, and BabbleTop. He's also an indie filmmaker, a standup comedian, and an alumnus of the School of Rock. After scoring one of the biggest hits of either of their careers with Saving Private Ryan, Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks reteamed to do it all over again. What made Saving Private Ryan so powerful was that, despite its big blockbuster spectacle, it never loses sight of the human beings at the core of the story. It’s a haunting, visceral portrayal of warfare, but it’s also a deeply moving story of brotherhood under the most extreme circumstances imaginable. For their next World War II project, Spielberg and Hanks decided to make an HBO miniseries, so they would have even more screen time, and even more opportunities, to dig into that camaraderie. Band of Brothers is like a 10-hour version of Saving Private Ryan, using its extra seven hours to capture the burgeoning friendships, the simmering rivalries, and the different ways that the trauma of war is affecting these guys. Spielberg and Hanks would go on to executive-produce a couple more WWII miniseries — The Pacific and Masters of the Air — but, while they were both really good, neither of them reached the same level of greatness as Band of Brothers. Band of Brothers changed television; it was the first TV show to prove that cinematic visuals weren’t just confined to the big screen — something made for the small screen could have just as much scale and spectacle and production value, and it raised the bar for every other TV show going forward. More often than not, the title of “executive producer” doesn’t mean much, especially if it’s a recognizable name like Hanks or Spielberg. Usually, it just means a famous person agreed to attach their name to a project to give it a bit more cachet in exchange for an easy paycheck. But the title of “director” carries a lot more weight, and Hanks didn’t just executive-produce Band of Brothers; he directed its fifth episode, “Crossroads.” The Significance Of Band Of Brothers' "Crossroads" Episode Of course, Hanks is best known as an actor — he’s the ultimate everyman, our modern-day Jimmy Stewart or Henry Fonda, and he’s one of the few actors who’s just as adept at comedy as he is at drama — but he’s also been directing for years. He first stepped behind the camera in the realm of episodic television, and cut his teeth directing an episode of Tales from the Crypt, an episode of the A League of Their Own TV series, and an episode of Fallen Angels. Hanks went on to direct the first episode of From the Earth to the Moon, a different HBO miniseries dramatizing the Apollo space missions, and he’s even directed a couple of movies. He made his feature directorial debut with That Thing You Do! in 1996, and later followed it up with Larry Crowne in 2011. Although there were 10 episodes of Band of Brothers, Hanks only personally directed one of them — but it was an important one. “Crossroads” once again casts Dick Winters in a lead role, as we see him grapple with his guilt over killing a German teenager at the same time he’s being rewarded with a promotion. Winters is promoted to Executive Officer (XO) of 2nd Battalion, so he’s no longer in command of Easy Company, leaving a huge void in their leadership. As Winters adapts to his new role, he finds it hard to let go of his brothers in Easy Company. It’s a transformative episode that drastically shifts the status quo of the series, so it needed a steady hand behind the camera. Like all the best Band of Brothers episodes, “Crossroads” is just as focused on the internal conflicts of the soldiers as the external geopolitical conflicts of the war at large. It digs into the moral complexity of war, and uses Winters’ trauma response to show his honor in spite of what he’s done. There are a lot of gray areas in the fog of war. It helped to have an actor behind the camera for some of these scenes; Hanks understood what was required of Damian Lewis, and the place he had to get to, and he helped him get there. Tom Hanks Has A Brief Cameo In The Band Of Brothers Episode He Directed Hanks starred in both of the movies he directed, so it makes sense that he would put himself in front of the camera in the Band of Brothers episode he directed. But, where he was the headlining star front and center on the posters of That Thing You Do! and Larry Crowne, he only appears very briefly in the background of a shot in “Crossroads” — blink and you’ll miss it. Hanks has an uncredited cameo as a British paratrooper (or a “Red Devil”), wearing a maroon-colored beret. The Oscar-winning star of Forrest Gump and Toy Story can be spotted among the British soldiers who are celebrating after being saved by Easy Company. "Crossroads" Also Features Another Notable Band Of Brothers Cameo Hanks isn’t the only big star who makes a cameo appearance in “Crossroads,” and he’s certainly not the most noticeable. Hanks deliberately hid his own cameo as an Easter egg for eagle-eyed fans, but he drew attention to a different celebrity cameo. Near the end of a key scene, Jimmy Fallon can be seen playing 2nd Lieutenant George C. Rice, driving an army jeep to deliver some much-needed ammunition to Easy Company. At the time, Fallon was already famous as a cast member from Saturday Night Live, so the producers knew the audience would recognize him, and that’s very much by design. A recognizable face makes you pay attention to the information being conveyed. Saving Private Ryan did the same thing by having Ted Danson show up for one scene to deliver some important exposition. When Rice arrives, he warns his fellow troops that they’re about to be surrounded. Since you recognized the driver from SNL, you were already paying attention when he delivered that crucial information. It’s a good trick if you have the connections to call in cameos from people like Fallon and Danson. Band of Brothers is one of the greatest TV shows ever made, and it’s all in the meticulous little details like this. It set the gold standard for the HBO limited series, and still has yet to be topped. Band of Brothers 10/10 Release Date 2001 - 2001 Network HBO Cast Damian Lewis Richard D. Winters Donnie Wahlberg C. Carwood Lipton