HBO will team with Tom Hanks to create a miniseries around explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, the network said Friday.

Lewis and Clark, based on the book Undaunted Courage by Stephen A. Ambrose, will star Casey Affleck and Matthias Schoenaerts as the American explorers.

The six-hour miniseries will be executive-produced by Hanks, Gary Goetzman, Edward Norton, Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner, Tim Kelly and Adam Leipzig for HBO.

“In Lewis and Clark, we can see American idealism and the breathtaking natural beauty of the continent, as well as the complexities and tragedies of what came to be known as America’s ‘manifest destiny’,” said HBO programing president Michael Lombardo in a statement. “We are tremendously excited to bring together this incredible group of talents to tell a seminal American story.”