The thriller, ba sed on the best-selling 2011 novel written by King, is described as an event series, but the streaming service is open to additional seasons, possibly focused on other historic events. Adapted for television by Bridget Carpenter (The Red Road), 11/22/63 centers on Jake Epping (Franco), an unassuming divorced English teacher who stumbles upon a time portal that leads to 9/9/1958 and goes on a quest to try and prevent the assassination of John F. Kennedy, which occurred on November 22, 1963. But his mission is threatened by Lee Harvey Oswald, his falling in love and the past itself … which doesn’t want to be changed. This has been a passion project for Abrams whose company optioned the book in 2013.

King, Abrams, Carpenter and Bryan Burk executive produce; Franco will serve as a producer. Warner Bros. TV, where Bad Robot is based, is the studio.

Franco, repped by CAA, Sloane, Offer, Weber and Dern, got his first break on the cult dramedy Freaks and Geeks and earned his first awards recognition with his starring role in the TV biopic James Dean. He was nominated for an Oscar for 127 Hours and most recently starred in the controversial feature comedy The Interview, which has been linked to the Sony hack.