I was pleasantly surprised by an unexpected Limited Series.

The only book I have read authored by Stephen King is On Writing, his memoir about how he got into writing, his experience, and lessons learned along the way. The only movies I have watched based on a King novel are The Shining, Stand by Me, and Cujo. If any are on television, then I have no problem flipping past them and moving on to something else. That had been the extent of my exposure to King, until I watched a Limited Series based on his novel 11.22.63.

It has been a long time since I have wanted to read a novel after watching its big or small screen adaptation. The last one was the Harry Potter series. I read all seven books after watching all eight movies. The books provided so much context and background for things that happened in the movies, and I was glad I watched the movies first. After watching the small screen adaptation of 11.22.63, I have been anxious to read the novel for the same reason.

At a high level, the plot is not that unique. There is more than one book and series and movie out there about alternate realities based on historical events that concluded differently from the world in which we live. For instance, The Man in the High Castle is one famous example of an alternate reality in which Germany and Japan win World War II and take over the world. 11.22.63 is one such story, with the potential of an alternate reality if the protagonist succeeds.

In this story, we follow Jack Epping, played by James Franco in the Limited Series, who has been recruited by a friend to go back in time and prevent the assassination of John F. Kennedy. The only problem is that Jack can only go back to a specific date in 1960 and must spend the next three years learning as much as possible so he can prevent the assassination from taking place. The first thing that pleasantly surprised me was the performance delivered by Franco.

I remember Franco mostly as Harry, Peter Parker’s wealthy but unlucky friend in the Spiderman movie series starring Toby McGuire. Franco’s portrayal of Jack convinced me that he was born to play this role. He looks like someone who should have been living in the era of the 1950s and 1960s but somehow got delayed and landed the misfortune of walking amongst the world as it stands today. The same can be said of Jack, the protagonist played by Franco.

Spoiler alert ahead. The second thing that pleasantly surprised me about 11.22.63 was King’s interpretation of the world if Kennedy had never been assassinated. By the time Jack saves Kennedy and returns to 2016, World War III has taken place, and the world is a post-nuclear disaster. Even though events like the Vietnam War and 9/11 never happened, the world according to King ended up worse off after Kennedy’s survival from the assassination attempt.

That is one of the reasons I want to read the book because it is bound to have more details and context to which eight episodes might not be able to do justice. The other reason I want to read the book is to read the love story of Jack and Sadie in more detail. This was the third pleasant surprise of 11.22.63. In the end, it turned out to be a beautiful love story. I am struggling to call it a tragic one because of the way it unfolds and ends. Hence, I need to read the book.