11.22.63

A portal to 1960, three years early for Dallas

Before it was a series, the novel was going to be a film: Jonathan Demme was attached to it, then withdrew in December 2012 after disagreeing with Stephen King over what the script should include. The project went to television instead, with J.J. Abrams's company Bad Robot, and Bridget Carpenter developed it for Hulu, writing or co-writing five of its eight episodes.

James Franco had also tried to obtain the rights from King, only to learn that Abrams already held them. He then wrote about the book for Vice, Abrams read the piece, and Franco was offered the role of Jake Epping. He accepted on the condition that he could direct part of the series, and he directed the fifth episode, "The Truth".

The Story

In 2016, Jake Epping, a recently divorced English teacher in Lisbon, Maine, learns from his friend Al Templeton that the pantry of Al's diner opens onto 21 October 1960. Al is dying of cancer and asks Jake to stay in the past until 22 November 1963, to stop the assassination of President Kennedy in Dallas. However long Jake stays in the past, only two minutes pass in the present.

The past pushes back as Jake tries to change it, with accidents and setbacks. While he waits, Jake takes a teaching job in the small Texas town of Jodie, watches Lee Harvey Oswald and falls in love with the librarian Sadie Dunhill (Sarah Gadon).

The Ideal Audience

The eight episodes adapt King's 2011 novel 11/22/63: a pilot of 81 minutes, then seven episodes of 42 to 57 minutes. Common Sense Media recommends the series from age 15, citing a family massacre, a sexual assault, a suicide, sex scenes and racist slurs. Of the 64 reviews collected by Rotten Tomatoes, 83 percent are positive, and the series won the Saturn Award for Best Television Presentation.