J.J. Abrams is getting ready to blow our minds again. Going back to his TV roots, Abrams will be adapting Stephen King’s acclaimed novel 11/22/63 into a Hulu series. Hulu has just released a trailer for the upcoming series and it’s ready to break the internet. Take a look at the trailer now.
I’m sorry, but this show looks pretty unbelievable. There’s a bunch of reasons why 11.22.63 might have what it takes to produce an outstanding series, so let’s quickly walk through exactly what might make the show so great.
First, the Stephen King novel is pretty unbelievable. 11/22/63 was released in 2011, and has been ranked as one of the top books of the year. The plot follows teacher Jake Epping, who will be played by James Franco in the Hulu adaptation, as he begins his foray into time travel. In King’s book, Epping travels back to 1958 with a plan to attempt to stop the assassination of John F. Kennedy in 1963. The JFK assassination is one of the most polarizing moments in American history. While younger generations could only learn about the events in history books, older Americans all remember where they were the day that it happened. A nation mourned and conspiracy theories are still being explored today.
J.J. Abrams’ role as Executive Producer is sure to give 11.22.63 a fair amount of buzz. After the massive success of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, audiences and sci-fi fans are ready to drink the Abrams Kool Aid (if they haven’t already). We’ve seen what outstanding television work Abrams is capable of with Lost, and while some seasons were stronger than others, the show is overall extremely popular. Lost suffered in later seasons, but since 11.22.63 is a limited series Abrams won’t have to worry about falling into that trap.
The fact that Hulu is airing 11.22.63 rather than a major network is also rather promising. Streaming services like Hulu and Netflix are able to show what they want with less worry about censorship. While some network series have difficulty adapting gruesome events and language onto the small screen, 11.22.63 will be able to have more control over the series as a whole.
Finally, the cast of 11.22.63 is rather outstanding. In addition to Academy Award nominee James Franco playing the protagonist, Hulu and J.J. Abrams have assembled an impressive supporting cast. From 24’s Cherry Jones to Spiderman’s Chris Cooper- there are bound to be impressive performances in Hulu’s newest adventure.
11.22.63 is set to release President’s Day: February 15th, 2016. How appropriate.
