There’s been surprisingly few details revealed so far about the forthcoming Hulu series, 11/22/63, adapted from the Stephen King novel of the same name — especially considering the A-list collaborators involved in the project, including King himself, J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot, and James Franco in the lead role. Today we learned one more small morsel about the thriller as Deadline reports The Good Wife’s T.R. Knight will be joining the cast.
Building up to what will be Hulu’s biggest original series to date, 11/22/63 will follow King’s award-winning novel about English teacher Jake Epping (James Franco) who finds a portal to the past that puts him in the position to prevent the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy. However, Epping is waylaid in his efforts by Lee Harvey Oswold, as well as his own human fallibility as personal relationships get in the way of his mission.
According to the report, T.R. Knight will play an integral role in those personal relationships that side-track Epping. Knight will play Johnny Clayton, a salesman in Texas in the time before the fatal event who is entangled in a love triangle between his estranged wife Sadie Dunhall (Sarah Gadon) and Franco’s Epping.
Clayton’s sordid relationship to Dunhall, and his volatile personality threaten to expose Epping’s deep secret about his time-traveller identity. Meanwhile Clayton struggles to hold onto his own secrets, hinting there may be several layers of drama hidden beneath the surface of this intriguing sci-fi thriller.
As the plot continues to unfold, Epping’s goal to change the history of the world appears to be subtly pushed aside as fate strives to correct itself from the alteration, and continue the path to the future we know today.
Hulu is no doubt hoping the scale of the new show, and the depth of its star power will be enough to make it the first big win in the company’s original series column. The streamer has yet to announce a premiere date for the new series.
