When Stephen King sat down to write 11.22.63, he posed a whale of a "what-if' — what if someone could travel back in time?
And what if that traveler could change the course of history by stopping the assassination of President John F. Kennedy?
Such is the premise of the book and the subsequent nine-hour limited series that debuted in February on Hulu. Starring James Franco, Chris Cooper, Josh Duhamel and T.R. Knight, the series takes flight on a time-travel journey unlike any other.
"This is such a barn burner of a story," says Bridget Carpenter, the series' showrunner, executive producer and one of its writers. "It's a story with a plot that is swift and yet so lush with characters we come to know and love. I loved the book because the premise, while like a runaway train, offered readers detours to get to know these people."
Franco stars as Jake Epping, a 21st-century English teacher who takes on the larger-than-life mission. But in doing so, he finds a life — and love — in the 1960s that he's loath to leave. "I always joke that it's a love story dressed up like a Jason Bourne thriller," Carpenter says.
The show was shot in part at Dealey Plaza in Dallas, site of the assassination, where Carpenter says the crew took great care to replicate every aspect of that infamous motorcade.
"Our costume designer and production designer closely watched every frame of the Abraham Zapruder film to re-create the iconic images," she says. "And it was eerie — we even shot in [the backyard of] Lee Harvey Oswald's apartment."
Her biggest surprise? "That we had very little to do digitally to bring that area of Texas back to the 1960s. It still looks very much the same."
Carpenter began her career as a playwright but segued into television as a writer and producer on NBC's Friday Night Lights. "That show became a love affair for me," she says. "I didn't know you could care so much about a television show before that."
As for 11.22.63, which was produced by Warner Bros. Television, Carpenter says the biggest thrill was to collaborate with Stephen King (who also is an exec producer on the series, along with J.J. Abrams and Bryan Burk; Kevin Macdonald directed the pilot, on which he is also an exec producer).
"We were pen pals while I was writing it, and I would tell him whenever I was making a big story change. His response was to be unflaggingly supportive."
While she still dabbles in stage — she's writing a musical adaptation of Freaky Friday for Disney Theatricals — television remains her medium of the moment. "Every year I feel like there's more reason to be in love with TV."
For more on Hulu's 11.22.63, see our Online Original story "The Man Who Killed America's Optimism."
