Tom Hanks Appears in '1883' 's Second Episode — How Tim McGraw Asked His Longtime Friend to Make a Cameo

Tom Hanks' cameo on Sunday's episode of 1883 is no coincidence.

On the Yellowstone prequel's second episode, the 65-year-old Oscar winner appeared in a Civil War flashback and played a general named George Meade. Hanks and his wife, Rita Wilson, are longtime friends with 1883 stars and real-life couple Tim McGraw and Faith Hill.

"You never want to botch a scene when you got Tom Hanks in there with you," McGraw, 54, 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."

The country star added, "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."

Before McGraw and Hanks filmed their scene together, the singer said the pair chose to do one thing: "We didn't see each other that whole morning."

"I didn't want to see what he looked like. He didn't want to see what I looked like, because we know each other so well," he recalled. "So when he walked on set, it was pretty magical. And when he puts his hand on my shoulder in that scene, you could feel the weight of the world between both of them with what had gone on. It was a pretty heavy scene."

1883, which premiered on Paramount+ on Dec. 19, tells the Dutton family's origin story, specifically following their 19th-century ancestors James (McGraw) and Margaret Dutton (Hill). The great-grandparents of Yellowstone patriarch John Dutton (Kevin Costner) embark on a journey west through the Great Plains.

The prequel series marks the first time McGraw and Hill, 54, have worked together on the small screen. The longtime couple told PEOPLE they created ground rules to help separate their work from their private lives together.

"We have made it a point not to work on our scenes together until we're on set," Hill said. "It's important that we react to one another naturally as characters, not as husband and wife."

McGraw added that "it's been incredible to do scenes together and to watch her work."

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But sometimes their work on 1883 hit a bit close to home. "We had this scene where she has to slap me. I was expecting a finger slap but it was a paw to the jaw," said McGraw.

"There was 25 years of pent-up aggression going on!" he joked. "When you see it on screen, you realize it was a genuine hit."

New episodes of 1883 air Sundays on Paramount+.