The 2016 adaptation of King’s speculative novel finds a man traveling back in time to prevent the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

11.22.63 ending explained: How Jake’s mission to save JFK ripples through history (and hits him close to home)

The 2016 adaptation of King's speculative novel finds a man traveling back in time to prevent the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

By Randall Colburn

Randall Colburn

Randall Colburn is a writer and editor at **. His work has previously appeared on *The A.V. Club, The Guardian, The Ringer*, and many other publications.

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January 13, 2026 1:30 p.m. ET

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James Franco in '11/22/63'. Credit:

- *11.22.63* originally premiered on Hulu in 2016 and is currently streaming on Netflix.

- The series adapts Stephen King's 2011 novel about a man who travels back in time to try and prevent the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

- James Franco and Sarah Gadon lead the eight-episode series.

In Stephen King's 2011 novel *11/22/63,* a small-town teacher travels back in time to try and prevent the assassination of President John F. Kennedy on Nov. 22, 1963. A series adaptation debuted five years after the book's publication, executive produced by King and J.J. Abrams.

But *11/22/63*, considered by many to be among the author's best novels, is more than just a bit of speculative sci-fi. Though much of the tale centers on Jake Epping's efforts to stop Lee Harvey Oswald's assassination plot (there's no conspiracies to be found in these pages), it's perhaps more effective as a love story that transcends time. When Jake falls for Texas teacher Sadie Dunhill, he begins to question whether her affection is more important than his mission.

James Franco and Sarah Gadon lead the series, which originally premiered on Hulu before landing on Netflix this week, where it's currently topping the streamer's charts. ** hailed it as "well-paced and well-performed with a strong emotional core that tackles potent themes about love and the consequences of our actions."

And that's to say nothing of the ending, which is one of King's most affecting. Below, we break it all down, from how Jake's historical meddling impacts the future to whether or not he and Sadie's romance literally withstands the test of time.

Does Jake save Kennedy’s life?

Daniel Webber as Lee Harvey Oswald in '11.22.63'.

Yes, Jake foils Oswald's assassination in the opening stretch of the *11.22.63* finale, though not without struggle. One of the running themes of the story, after all, is that "the past is obdurate," meaning that history itself is resistant to change and will bend reality in order to preserve it.

As Jake and Sadie rush to the Texas School Book Depository, where Oswald is alleged to have shot and killed Kennedy, they're met with engine troubles, aggressive crowds, and even a 1958 Plymouth Fury (the same model of car that wreaks havoc in King's *Christine*) that nearly runs them down.

Oswald (Daniel Webber) manages to fire off a single shot that misses its mark before Jake and Sadie distract him, leading to a struggle that leaves both Oswald and Sadie mortally wounded. As Sadie bleeds out, they hold hands and Jake tells her they saved the president, which gives her comfort before dying. Her death wrecks Jake, helping him to realize that the reason he traveled back in time wasn't to prevent the assassination, but to be with her.

How does Jake escape the past?

James Franco as Jake Epping in '11.22.63'.

Jake is arrested for attempting to assassinate Kennedy and dragged before press in much the same way Oswald was in our version of history. He's interrogated by FBI Agent James Hosty (Gil Bellows), a real-life figure who investigated Oswald prior to Kennedy's assassination.

Hosty, who's rattled by Jake's knowledge of the various surveillance programs being carried out by the FBI, believes him to a Russian spy, noting that there's no record of him existing prior to 1960 (the year he arrived in the past).

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But Hosty is forced to swallow his questions and help Jake disappear after Kennedy and First Lady Jackie Kennedy call Jake to thank him for stopping Oswald. Jackie even offers condolences for Sadie's death.

A grieving Jake sees a vision of Sadie as he boards a bus bound for Lisbon, Maine, where the portal back to the present exists. "I'll fix this, Sadie," he says before stepping into it. "I'll be right back."

How does time travel work in 11.22.63?

Kevin J. O'Connor as the Yellow Card Man and James Franco as Jake Epping in '11/22/63'.

This feels like a good spot to note some of the intricacies of time travel in *11.22.63*.

The portal that takes Jake from 2011 to 1960 is tucked in the back of Al's Diner, and, as he learns from Al himself, it leads *only* to 1960, with those who step through always arriving in the same location at the same moment in Lisbon, Maine. When they return to the diner, only two minutes will have passed.

Most importantly, however, is that anything one changes in the past upon their visit will be "reset" if they return through the portal after already coming back to the present.

Are there consequences to that resetting? That answer can best be answered by the Yellow Card Man (Kevin J. O'Connor), a strange and unkempt figure who warns Jake against his mission. As we come to learn over the course of the series, the Yellow Card Man has driven himself into despair and madness after trying in vain to try to prevent the death of his daughter.

"You can't stop the past," the Yellow Card Man warns, to which Jake replies, "This is different." (Spoiler alert: It's not.)

How have Jake’s actions changed history?

Jake wanders through his blasted town in '11.22.63'.

Jake returns to 2011 with the intention of going back to 1960 and doing it all over again, this time without making the mistakes that led to Sadie's death. When he arrives, however, he steps into a world unlike the one he used to know.

The diner is a pile of rubble, while the city is more or less bombed out, reduced to a dusty graveyard of crumbling homes and abandoned buildings. There, he finds Harry Dunning (Leon Rippy), a janitor at the high school where Jake teaches.

Jake needles Harry about the past 50 years, but Harry can only offer scraps of history. By his telling, there was no Vietnam War or September 11 attack, but he talks of bombings, riots, and militias, noting how he and his family were sent to refugee camps in the 1970s where "bad things happened." The rosy future Jake thought he was creating by saving Kennedy is no such thing.

"I thought JFK would've made things better," Jake says. Harry replies, "You don't understand this world."

Does Jake save Sadie?

Sarah Gadon as Sadie in '11.22.63'.

After leaving Harry's home, Jake returns to the portal and travels back to 1960. There, he sees Sadie speeding by in a pink convertible. (Though she lives in Texas, she's visiting cousins in Maine.)

Jake follows her to a diner, then approaches her inside. She doesn't recognize him, given that he's reset the timeline, but he says he knows her, listing off all the facts he knows about her. "You seem a little crazy," she says, though she remains charmed.

Jake is then summoned outside by the Yellow Card Man. "It's got you, brother," he says. "You're in your own loop." Jake tries to tell him it will be different this time, saying he won't meddle with JFK and Oswald, that he only wants to be with Sadie. But the Yellow Card Man isn't swayed. "That's what I think every time... It ends the same, over and over and over."

Like his daughter, the Yellow Card Man intones, Sadie will "always die."**

Jake, knowing in his bones this is true, decides to let Sadie go when she comes outside to speak with him. If he really cares about her, he can't interfere with history.**

What happens at the end of 11.22.63?

Constance Towers as Sadie in '11.22.63'.

Jake returns to 2011 and his teaching job, though he's haunted by memories of Sadie. One night, he brings himself to Google her, discovering that she's alive and still living in Texas. Better yet, she's soon to be honored as Texas' Woman of the Year.

He travels to the ceremony, where he glimpses an elderly Sadie (Constance Towers). "We never know which lives we influence or when or why," Sadie says upon receiving the award, "but I am so very grateful to be part of yours."

Though it hurts Jake to know he could never be with her in the way he wanted, he's happy to see all of the lives she touched in his absence. The ceremony gives way to a reception, and Jake asks Sadie to dance. Obviously, she doesn't know him, not in this timeline, but she feels comfortable with him.

"Have you had a happy life?" he asks as they dance.

"Well, I do work that matters. I love all the people in my life. I have a dog," she says. "My life has had its challenges, but, yes, I am very happy. Why do you ask?"

"You seem like you deserve it," he replies.

When he spins her, he sees a vision of Sadie as she was in the 1960s, and for a brief moment gets to relive the joy of his time with her. As the dance winds down, she says she swears she knows him. "Who are you?" she asks.

"Someone you knew in another life," he says.**

Where can I watch 11.22.63?

*11.22.63* is currently available to stream on Netflix.

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