Hulu is ordering an adaptation of Stephen King’s ’11/22/63′ from J.J. Abrams and Warner Bros. Television direct to series, as Variety reports. The time-travel thriller about the Kennedy assassination will be told over the course of a nine-hour mini-series with a script from executive producer Bridget Carpenter (Friday Night Lights, The Red Road).
King’s best-selling 2011 novel ’11/22/63′ tracks divorced high school English teacher Jake Epping who discovers a portal that transports him to September 9th, 1958 at precisely 11:58 a.m. Jake attempts to use the portal to prevent Lee Harvey Oswald from assassinating the 35th President of The United States, John Fitzgerald Kennedy.
Nothing is yet known about the mini-series’ eventual distribution. The streaming service has not announced whether the series will be available for all, or limited to Hulu Plus subscribers only. They also have not revealed if the show will follow the Netflix model of releasing all the episodes simultaneously. While Hulu will host ’11/22/63′ in the U.S., Warner Bros. Worldwide Television Distrbution retains rights to the mini-series for the rest of the world. Additionally, Hulu has the opportunity to extend their new show for subsequent seasons should the show prove successful.
With the announcement, ’11/22/63′ author Stephen King said, “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.”
Executive producer J.J. Abrams added, “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.”
No premiere date has been set for the new show, but many are touting this pickup as Hulu’s biggest move in the battle with Netflix and Amazon.com to date.