J.J. Abrams to produce Stephen King’s 11/22/63 as a Hulu series

Last summer I had the pleasure of reading Stephen King’s “11/22/63”; and as a long-time fan of his, I can honestly say it was one of his best in many years. Now the incredibly busy J.J. Abrams is taking his love for King’s work to the small screen with a direct-to-series order at Hulu. With Abram, Bad Robot, King, executive producer-writer Bridget Carpenter and Warner Bros. Television will turn the book into a nine-hour series event.

Here’s the synopsis:

Based upon the best-selling 2011 novel written by King and published by Scribner, 11/22/63 is a thriller in which high school English teacher Jake Epping travels back in time to prevent the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. But his mission is threatened by Lee Harvey Oswald, his falling in love and the past itself … which doesn’t want to be changed.

Here’s what Abrams had to say about the project:

"I’ve been a fan of Stephen King since I was in junior high school. The chance to work with him at all, let alone on a story so compelling, emotional and imaginative, is a dream. We are thrilled to be working with Hulu on this very special project."

King added:

"If I ever wrote a book that cries out for long-form, event TV programming, 11/22/63 is it. I’m excited that it’s going to happen, and am looking forward to working with J.J. Abrams and the whole Bad Robot team."

I think a lot of people will be pretty happy about this considering it was only a matter of time before this book was adapted, and like many of you, I also feared a movie would not do it justice with the time restraints. There’s no word on when the series will go into production and obviously casting hasn’t been announced but we will be sure to keep you posted.

What’s your favorite King novel?