Stephen King Meets Back To The Future In J.J. Abrams' 8-Part Sci-Fi Series

Published Aug 30, 2026, 6:30 AM EDT Sean is a senior writer for ScreenRant and has been writing about new TV releases since December 2023. He has received multiple advance screenings of popular shows and ideated his own coverage read by hundreds of thousands of readers. Sean is a self-published author of a Western novel. Sean has also written award-winning opinion pieces related to local politics while getting his Bachelor's degree in journalism. The horror stories of Stephen King combine with the time travel adventures of Back to the Future in an eight-episode miniseries produced by J.J. Abrams. Though Stephen King and Back to the Future are both mainstays of modern culture, they don't have a lot of overlap. Back to the Future is a distinctly light-hearted adventure and one of the best science fiction movies ever made, while Stephen King's novels and adaptations are distinctly dark and often fall into the horror genre. Mixing Stephen King's dark and mature storytelling with the sci-fi time travel of Back to the Future shouldn't work, on paper. Back to the Future would be a much worse movie if it took itself more seriously, and King's books would lose a lot of their appeal if they were more family friendly. There is one of Stephen King's many books, however, that got an adaptation that proved that mixture could work. In 2016, one of King's very few historical fiction books was adapted into the TV miniseries 11.22.63. The unusually titled show was created by Bridget Carpenter, but J.J. Abrams of Star Trek and Star Wars fame worked as a director on it, and his influence is easy to spot. 11.22.63 follows Jake (James Franco) as he travels back in time to stop the assassination of John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963. That makes it clearly similar to Back to the Future, but it also has King's signature interest in the macabre. 11.22.63 Is An Adaptation Of One Of Stephen King's Most Unique Novels As previously mentioned, 11.22.63 is rather unique among Stephen King's dozens of novels. That's because it's primarily science fiction and historical fiction rather than horror, a genre King rarely dips his toes into. So much of 11.22.63's story is about Jake trying to learn how the past works culturally, about him uncovering massive conspiracies, and about the historical implications of Kennedy not being assassinated. Of course, while 11.22.63 is primarily historical sci-fi, it's written by Stephen King, so it has plenty of horror elements to go around. As Jake puts it, the past "pushes back" to stop him from saving Kennedy's life, through sickness, apparitions of the dead, and through mysterious fires that destroy his notes. 11.22.63 is science fiction with a healthy dose of the supernatural and even touches of cosmic horror, once Jake returns to the present. As a historical fiction story, 11.22.63 also let Stephen King branch out more. There's more romance in the story between Jake and Sadie (Sarah Gadon) than the author typically writes, there's a great exploration of the culture and politics of America in the 1960s, and there's even some speculation about alternate histories towards the end of the show. 11.22.63 is one of King's best non-horror stories, and one of his better screen adaptations. 11.22.63 Is A Grittier Version Of Back To The Future's Time Travel Story Since 11.22.63 is a time travel story, the obvious comparison is to Back to the Future. Not only is Back to the Future the quintessential example of a time travel story, but 11.22.63 also sees Jake return to a similar era as Marty McFly does. As Marty's going to soc-hops and diners in the 1950s, Jake is buying cars and becoming a teacher in the early 1960s, as he can only return to 1960 and has to wait three years to stop Kennedy's assassination. Back to the Future and 11.22.63 also use a few of the same tropes of the time travel genre. Both Marty and Jake end up drastically changing the future they left behind and causing a massive butterfly effect, albeit in very different ways. Both of them have culture shock from the past, though Jake is more prepared for his. They're even both helped by an older and wiser man who knows more about time travel. 11.22.63 is still a Stephen King story, though, so it's a much darker and grittier tale than Back to the Future. The show has more violence, government conspiracies, and more than Back to the Future ever did. It also leans less into the realm of science fiction than Back to the Future does, despite J.J. Abrams working as an executive producer of the series. In short, if you liked Back to the Future but want a time travel story that's more tailored to an adult audience, 11.22.63 is the perfect choice. Release Date 2016 - 2016-00-00 Directors Kevin Macdonald, James Franco, Frederick E.O. Toye, James Strong, John David Coles Cast Sarah Gadon Sadie Dunhill Creator(s) Bridget Carpenter