Television series

11.22.63

Name: 11.22.63
Genre: Drama, Science Fiction, Mystery
Released: 2016
Cast: James Franco, Daniel Webber, Sarah Gadon, George MacKay, Chris Cooper

A high school teacher discovers a time portal and travels to 1963 to prevent Kennedy's assassination. It's a character-driven thriller that treats time travel as genuinely consequential—every change ripples backward and forward. Grounded, tense, and unexpectedly romantic. For anyone who loved Lost or The Leftovers but wants something that actually resolves.

TVMaze rating

3.9

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you love slow-burn period mysteries where the time-travel rules feel like a moral puzzle, and you don't mind a leisurely pace to soak in small-town 1960s texture.

Skip it if you want a nonstop, high-velocity sci-fi thriller; this is patient, and its romance and quiet scenes take up real room between the time-jumps.

What it asks of you: Roughly eight episodes under an hour each, one season, so it builds slowly and wants you to stay with its long, quiet stretches before the pieces start to click.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

The Leftovers2014

A mystery about grief and choice where the answers matter less than what people do with uncertainty. Like 11.22.63, it earns its emotional weight through character, not spectacle. Damon Lindelof at his most ambitious.

But Relentlessly bleak and slow-burn. The first season is tough to sit with, and some viewers found the ending divisive or too weird.

Outlander2014

Historical time travel that invests as heavily in period detail and romance as in the mechanics of changing the past. Sweeping, sexy, genuinely tense about consequences. A kindred spirit in treating the past as a real place.

But Very long commitment—multiple seasons, 60+ minute episodes. Can lean melodramatic, and the protagonist's agency is sometimes muddied by convenience.

The Man in the High Castle2015

Alternate history where every decision echoes. Gorgeously shot, morally intricate, asks what you'd risk to change the world. The same patience with consequence and character that 11.22.63 brings to its premise.

But Slow and deliberately paced. Won't satisfy anyone wanting action or clear answers. Some found the later seasons less focused than the first.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from 11.22.63

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Predestination2014

Both are about whether you can change your life or history's course, and both answer the same way: the universe is harder to rewrite than you want to believe.

A time-travel thriller that does something 11.22.63 only hints at: explores whether trying to prevent a tragedy might cause it. Loops back on itself with genuine ingenuity. Ethan Hawke delivers career-best work in a small, dense, haunting film.

But The twist demands a second viewing to make sense. Some found it gimmicky; others felt cheated by the revelation. Bleak and violent.

Dark2017

Time travel that actually respects the logic of it—past, present, and future are locked together in knots. Intricate, haunting, visually stunning. If 11.22.63 made you hungry for more temporal complexity, this delivers.

But German series with subtitles. Intensely confusing until you're deep in; requires your full attention and note-taking. Some found the resolution intellectually cold.

Midnight in Paris2011

A different kind of time travel: magical, romantic, wistful. A writer transported to 1920s Paris discovers nostalgia isn't always wisdom. Gorgeous writing. Like 11.22.63, it's really about whether the past is worth living in.

But Precious and whimsical in a way some find cloying. The philosophy is light; if you wanted 11.22.63's moral weight, this won't deliver it.

Arrival2016

Linguistic and temporal—about how understanding language changes how you experience time itself. Quiet, devastating, intellectually precise. Amy Adams gives a phenomenal performance in a story about sacrifice and knowledge.

But Deliberately paced sci-fi. No action, minimal dialogue for stretches. The ending emotional punch works only if you're patient enough to feel it build.

Fringe2008

A show about unmaking catastrophe across dimensions and timelines. Strong ensemble, high-concept premises that never overshadow character. Escalates smartly from mystery-of-the-week to existential stakes. Serialized payoff that lands.

But Five seasons is a lot; the show wobbles when it loses focus on its core cast. Some mythology feels overexplained; others felt it got worse after season two.

Looper2012

Time travel as crime noir. A hitman must kill his future self. Brutal, clever, surprisingly grounded in character despite the high concept. Rian Johnson makes you care about the consequences before the action hits.

But Violence can be brutal and sudden. The resolution is bittersweet and ambiguous—not everyone buys the moral compromise.

The Americans2013

Soviet spies embedded in 1980s America, raising a family while lying to everyone. Masterful tension. Like 11.22.63, it's about ordinary people trapped by history and circumstance, trying to do the impossible thing.

But Emotionally exhausting and grim across six seasons. Characters you love suffer, and there's rarely relief. The Soviet subplot can feel slow for viewers wanting spy thriller momentum.

Memories of Murder2003

Like 11.22.63, it's obsessed with a real-world mystery and whether knowing the truth would actually change anything. Both suggest that sometimes history stays broken no matter what you do.

A South Korean serial-killer thriller set in 1986 where the police hunt the wrong man while the real killer moves freely. Visually stunning, morally complex. It's about the uncertainty of history and how the past haunts us with what-ifs.

But Subtitled. Methodical, not thrilling in a conventional sense. The ending offers no catharsis—it's deliberately frustrating. Some violence is graphic and sexual in nature.

Severance2022

Both ask what you'd sacrifice to change the past or prevent tragedy. Both suggest that even when you have power, the world has its own gravity pulling you back toward sorrow.

A sci-fi drama about memory and consequence. Workers are surgically split between work and home selves, unable to remember each other. Visually controlled, philosophically heavy, quietly devastating. The first season is almost perfect—tense and gorgeous and strange.

But Slow-burn, deliberately oblique plotting. No explosions or conventional momentum. Ends on a major cliffhanger with season two taking years to arrive. Some found the pacing frustrating.