After several starts and stops over the last few years, Stephen King‘s time travel novel 11/22/63 is finally moving forward. After director Jonathan Demme dropped out of a film adaptation of the book, J.J. Abrams and Bad Robot optioned it as a Hulu series. Now, the show has it’s leading man.
James Franco will star in the nine episode event series which could be optioned for further original seasons depending on fan and critical reaction.
Adapted for television by Bridget Carpenter (The Red Road), 11/22/63 centers on Jake Epping (Franco), an unassuming divorced English teacher who stumbles upon a time portal that leads to 9/9/1958 and goes on a quest to try and prevent the assassination of John F. Kennedy, which occurred on November 22, 1963. But his mission is threatened by Lee Harvey Oswald, his falling in love and the past itself … which doesn’t want to be changed.
J.J. Abrams has been a longtime fan of Stephen King, even going as far as to option his DARK TOWER novels alongside LOST showrunners Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse. This would represent Abrams’ first collaboration with King who currently also has the series HAVEN and UNDER THE DOME airing based on his works.
James Franco has been all over the map in recent years as a writer, director, and actor. 11/22/63 is not a big effects spectacle but does have a lot of human drama in it. Franco seems well cast in the lead for this project which he will also produce alongside Abrams and King.
11/22/63 has no production or release dates but stay tuned for more as it develops.