But it's entertaining enough to keep you watching and see what happens next. It's too bad then that 11.22.63 never quite reaches their level of collective excellence. Hulu has produced original series before but never on this scale, and, at least thematically, the result feels a lot like the love child of Back to the Future, Quantum Leap, and Groundhog Day. Abrams (such as a Nixon campaign sign that reads, 'They can't lick our Dick!') help add some much-needed comic relief to the story's dark, weighty themes. But Franco's convincing performance somehow makes it all seem strangely plausible, and clever touches from director J.J. The story's semi-preposterous rules for time travel aren't big selling points (among them, the portal takes you to the exact same spot at the exact same time - Oct. And in the end it does, thanks to solid acting and some incredibly convenient plot points. So begins Jake’s new life as George Amberson and his new world of Elvis and JFK, of big American cars and sock hops, of a troubled loner named Lee Harvey Oswald and a beautiful high school librarian named Sadie Dunhill, who becomes the love of Jake’s life – a life that transgresses all the normal rules of time.Ī tribute to a simpler era and a devastating exercise in escalating suspense, 11/22/63 is Stephen King at his epic best.This ambitious adaptation of Stephen King's novel sets out to achieve a lot in only eight episodes. He enlists Jake on an insane-and insanely possible -mission to try to prevent the Kennedy assassination. Not much later, Jake’s friend Al, who runs the local diner, divulges a secret: his storeroom is a portal to 1958. Harry escaped with a smashed leg, as evidenced by his crooked walk. He receives an essay from one of the students-a gruesome, harrowing first person story about the night 50 years ago when Harry Dunning’s father came home and killed his mother, his sister, and his brother with a hammer.

The drama is based on King’s book of the same. Jake Epping is a thirty-five-year-old high school English teacher in Lisbon Falls, Maine, who makes extra money teaching adults in the GED program. Could there be another season of 11.22.63 Series producer Stephen King says he has an idea for a sequel to the Hulu series, AV Club reports. And he introduces readers to a character who has the power to change the course of history. What if you could change it back? Stephen King’s heart-stoppingly dramatic new novel is about a man who travels back in time to prevent the JFK assassination-a thousand page tour de force.įollowing his massively successful novel Under the Dome, King sweeps readers back in time to another moment-a real life moment-when everything went wrong: the JFK assassination. On November 22, 1963, three shots rang out in Dallas, President Kennedy died, and the world changed. Soon to be a miniseries from Hulu starring James Franco Winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize

One of the Ten Best Books of The New York Times Book Review

11.22.63 by Stephen King