Shooting will begin next year in Australia for the series, which will appear on the HBO cable channel in 2009.
Spielberg and Hanks previously produced the 2001 series Band of Brothers, which recounted the experiences of American soldiers fighting in Europe during World War II.
Meanwhile, Michael Douglas is to star in a new film based on a 2000 civil lawsuit against US auto giant Ford over safety issues in its sports utility vehicles.
The Oscar-winning star of Wall Street and Traffic would play the attorney who took Ford to court on behalf of a single mother from Texas left paralyzed after an accident.
Lawyer Tab Turner won a multi-million US dollar settlement for Donna Bailey in the case, reputed to be the biggest product liability case in US history.
"This gives me the chance to play a different kind of character. I played a lawyer once, in Fatal Attraction, and there wasn't much about the law in that picture," Douglas said.
The film would be based on journalist Adam Penenberg's 2003 book Tragic Indifference: One Man's Battle With the Auto Industry Over the Dangers of SUVs.
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