Stephen King's Best TV Adaptation Is A Sci-Fi Masterpiece That Takes Less Than 8 Hours To Binge

While there have been plenty of great Stephen King adaptations on TV over the decades, the best small-screen version of the author’s work is a masterful sci-fi miniseries released by Hulu in 2016. Ever since Stephen King’s debut novel Carrie was originally released to massive commercial success in 1974, the author’s name has been synonymous with the horror genre. His masterpiece novels like It and The Shining not only became bestsellers, but also inspired iconic movie adaptations.

King has also been an icon of small screen horror for decades, ever since The Texas Chain Saw Massacre director Tobe Hooper turned King's small town vampire novel Salem’s Lot into an unforgettably scary two-part TV miniseries. More recently, Mike Flanagan reimagined Carrie as a miniseries for Prime Video, earning The Haunting of Hill House writer/director rave reviews. However, while acclaimed, Prime Video’s Carrie isn’t the greatest King miniseries ever.

This is a hotly contested title, and Flanagan’s upcoming The Dark Tower series will likely be another major contender for the title of best Stephen King show ever. However, when it comes to self-contained King miniseries specifically, one show from Hulu stands out above other genre classics, like 1990’s It, 1999’s Storm of the Century, and 2020’s HBO The Outsider. That series is 2016’s 11.22.63, based on King’s 2011 time travel sci-fi novel of the same name.

11.22.63 Is A Masterful Sci-Fi Miniseries

11.22.63 follows James Franco’s teacher Jake Epping, who travels back in time to the 1960s to prevent the assassination of JFK on the eponymous date. Epping’s friend Al Templeton uses his experimental time travel machine to send the teacher back to the decade, but Jake’s plans are inevitably complicated when he starts to become unexpectedly attached to his life in the ‘60s.

Before long, King’s hero is caught between two worlds, unsure whether to stay in the ‘60s and live a whole new life or commit to his original plan. To say anymore would risk ruining the many twists and turns of 11.22.63’s plot, but suffice to say that King’s story takes Jake to some truly unpredictable places en route to the title’s fateful day in Dallas.

While the Terminator movies provided a perfect blueprint of what not to do when it comes to onscreen time travel, 11.22.63 fortunately avoids the excessive complications that the trope often brings up. The time travel elements of 11.22.63’s story are relatively streamlined and easy to follow, but the inherent risks of Jake’s trip to the past are also never ignored entirely.

Why 11.22.63 Didn't Need A Second Season

Since 11.22.63 was such a success, readers might reasonably be wondering why the show remained a one-off miniseries. After all, The Outsider’s success led to calls for a second season of the HBO show, even though these plans then fell through. However, while it is tricky to explain exactly why, while still avoiding major spoilers, 11.22.63’s story isn’t well suited to a second season thanks to its fitting season 1 finale conclusion.

Where other time travel shows like NBC’s Journeyman were effectively ruined when their runs were cut short by cancellation, one could argue that 11.22.63 actively benefited from not getting a second season. It would have been all too easy to over-complicate the show’s admirably simple setup, as there were far too many supporting characters that a sophomore outing would have needed to check in on.

Some King shows, like Castle Rock and HBOMax’s later IT: Welcome to Derry, benefit from their anthology-style approach and could sustain numerous seasons that focused on new groups of characters as a result. In contrast, what made Hulu’s 11.22.63 such a great miniseries was the fact that this Stephen King adaptation is, at its core, a character study of its conflicted protagonist.