11.22.63 on Netflix: Episodes, Cast, and Is It Worth Watching

Episodes: 8 · Released: 2016 · Original network: Hulu · IMDb user rating: 8.1/10 · Rotten Tomatoes: 83%

The clearest sign that this was always meant to be a one-season story is how neatly the production details fit into a single table.

Is 11.22.63 available on Netflix?

Short answer: yes, in some countries. In the United States, this is a Hulu original, so US viewers should go straight to Hulu. Outside the US, the rights are different, and the title has been available on Netflix in the UK, Canada, and Australia, among other regions.

Because availability shifts over time, your local Netflix search may not show it even if it was in the catalogue recently. It is always worth checking three places first: Netflix, Hulu, and your local digital storefront. Catalog updates follow the same pattern as other recent moves; for another example, see The Four Seasons Netflix.

The upshot: if you are in the US, think Hulu first. If you are outside the US, think of Netflix as a strong possibility rather than a guarantee.

How many episodes of 11.22.63 are on Netflix?

Eight. The full limited series is eight episodes, and there is no second season. This is not a show that was cancelled too early; it is an adaptation of a complete Stephen King novel, and it tells a complete story.

The opening episode is titled “The Rabbit Hole,” which tells you exactly what the first hour is built around. The story is a time-travel mission, not an episodic procedural, so the episodes are designed to work as one continuous novel.

• Episode count: 8 · Rotten Tomatoes
• Season count: 1 · Netflix Tudum
• Story status: complete · Apple TV listing

Bottom line: you are not signing up for an unfinished binge. If your region has it, you have all eight episodes in front of you. For a wider view of the catalogue, see our Netflix Cancelled Shows 2026 list.

The takeaway: there is no episode-order confusion here. Eight episodes, one complete story, and a finale that gives the characters room to choose a future.

Is 11.22.63 worth watching?

Yes, especially if you like time travel that is less about spectacle and more about consequence. The story gives James Franco a walking, talking conscience, and Sarah Gadon gives the series a strong emotional center. The strongest argument for watching is the way it treats real people as real people, not just figures from a conspiracy board.

We never know which lives we influence, or when, or why.

Stephen King, 11/22/63

The confirmed cast

The main cast, gathered from IMDb’s full cast list, is small but effective:

• James Franco as Jake Epping
• Sarah Gadon as Sadie Dunhill
• George MacKay as Bill Turcotte
• Daniel Webber as Lee Harvey Oswald
• Lucy Fry as Marina Oswald
• Cherry Jones as Marguerite Oswald
• Josh Duhamel as Frank Dunning

Daniel Webber is genuinely unsettling as Oswald. Cherry Jones brings a sharp, difficult energy to every scene. Josh Duhamel has a small role, but he uses it to create one of the most chilling characters in the show. The 83% Rotten Tomatoes score and the 8.1/10 IMDb user rating both point in the same direction: this is a well-liked, above-average thriller. It is not a flawless adaptation, and the middle drags in a few places, but it respects the source material while compressing it into a bingeable shape.

Bottom line: this is one of the better Stephen King adaptations of the streaming era. You are getting a romance, a thriller, and a history lesson with a time-travel machine attached.

What works: if you enjoy stories about the past pushing back, this will be your kind of rabbit hole.

The pattern: the source material gives the series its soul, but the cast and the compact running time are what make it watchable.

What is the significance of the Yellow Card Man in 11.22.63?

The Yellow Card Man is one of the most discussed parts of the series because the show never stops to explain him. He appears, he watches, and he creates a mood of unease that fits the story’s view of time.

Most viewers read him as a warning. He is the human-shaped sign that the past is aware it is being changed. He also gives the series one of its most useful metaphors: in sports, a yellow card is a formal warning. That is exactly what he is to Jake.

The past is obdurate.

Al Templeton, 11.22.63

The line “the past is obdurate” is the key to the whole show. The past is not a helpless place waiting to be rewritten. It pushes back. It hides coins, delays characters, and creates obstacles. The Yellow Card Man is that idea in human form: he is the part of the story that says “you should not be here.”

The upshot: he is not the villain, and he is not a major antagonist. He is a symptom. The real enemy is the stubbornness of history itself.

How accurate is 11.22.63?

As a story, 11.22.63 is a fiction built on a real, famous, and traumatic event. The broad history is real: John F. Kennedy was shot in Dallas on November 22, 1963, and Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested and later shot while in police custody. The show also keeps real figures such as Marina Oswald in the story. What is invented is the time-travel engine, the Yellow Card Man, and the central mission to stop the assassination. There was no hidden special agent from 2016 trying to save Kennedy. There was no diner pantry time portal. The show uses the real texture of the event, but it is not a documentary.

Confirmed:

• Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas on November 22, 1963 — see Britannica’s entry on the assassination.
• Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested for the assassination — see History.com’s JFK coverage.
• Marina Oswald was part of Oswald’s life in the early 1960s — see Marina Oswald Porter’s biography.

Not confirmed: a time traveler from the future tried to stop it, and a mysterious man in a yellow card used supernatural authority to keep the past on track. Those belong to the fiction of Stephen King’s novel and the Hulu adaptation. That mix of real and invented is exactly the point. The show gives you enough accurate texture to feel like history while asking a much bigger fictional question: if you could change this moment, would you deserve to?

The final takeaway: 11.22.63 is not a history lesson. It is a time-travel thriller that uses history the way a novelist should — as a backdrop, not a master.

Frequently asked questions

The bottom line: if you are deciding whether to press play, the answers above cover the practical concerns and the creative concerns in one pass.