Tom Hanks' Hidden Sci-Fi Gem Becomes a Streaming Sleeper Hit of 2026

Tom Hanks is one of the biggest movie stars in the world, but one of his lesser-known flicks is doing the unthinkable on streaming. 2026 has already been successful for Hanks, who starred in one of the only $1 billion movies of the year, Toy Story 5. Hanks can also be seen as the narrator in one of the most popular WWII shows of the year, WWII With Tom Hanks, where he walks viewers through some of the most crucial moments of the war. Hanks is a WWII icon famed for his role in Steven Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan, which won several Oscars. He's also famous for his work writing and producing the most influential WWII series of all time, Band of Brothers, and just a few years ago, he starred in the Apple TV naval thriller, Greyhound.

Greyhound was Tom Hanks' first big Apple TV movie, and it did so well that Apple is officially bringing a sequel to streaming sometime next year. However, only one year after he teamed up with Stephen Graham for Greyhound, Hanks returned to Apple TV for one of the rare sci-fi movies in his career, Finch, which co-stars Caleb Landry Jones. Although it's been over five years since Finch began streaming on Apple TV, it's still one of the most-watched movies on the platform in more than 10 countries around the world. Not only is this impressive due to the myriad of new originals Apple TV releases every year, but Finch has also withstood a wave of older sci-fi movies that were recently added to the platform, like I, Robot (starring Will Smith).

What Is 'Finch' About?

Apple TV's official synopsis for Finch, which holds scores of 74% from critics and 68% from audiences on Rotten Tomatoes, reads as follows:

“In 'Finch,' a man, a robot and a dog form an unlikely family in a powerful and moving adventure of one man's quest to ensure that his beloved canine companion will be cared for after he's gone. Tom Hanks stars as Finch, a robotics engineer and one of the few survivors of a cataclysmic solar event that has left the world a wasteland. But Finch, who has been living in an underground bunker for a decade, has built a world of his own that he shares with his dog, Goodyear. He creates a robot, played by Caleb Landry Jones, to watch over Goodyear when he no longer can. As the trio embarks on a perilous journey into a desolate American West, Finch strives to show his creation, who names himself Jeff, the joy and wonder of what it means to be alive. Their road trip is paved with both challenges and humor, as it's as difficult for Finch to goad Jeff and Goodyear to get along as it is for him to manage the dangers of the new world.”

A good way to look at Finch is that it's like The Last of Us, if it was less focused on zombies and death, and more focused on surviving in a dystopian world with a lovable companion.