Netflix Is Streaming An Underrated Stephen King Sci-Fi Series From J. J. Abrams

When it comes to J.J. Abrams and sci-fi, it's easy to default to his efforts on the "Star Wars" and "Star Trek" franchises. Of course, the filmmaker has done a lot more work in the genre than just those two brands — and he's also worked in small screen sci-fi as much as he has in movies. In addition to co-creating "Lost" and "Fringe," Abrams also lent his executive producer muscle to bringing one of the best Stephen King books to life: "11.22.63." It was first released in 2016 as a Hulu original, but subsequently left the service — and it is now streaming on Netflix.

James Franco stars as Jake Epping, a teacher who jumps at the chance to travel back to 1963, where he'll be potentially able to prevent the assassination of John F. Kennedy. But before he can do that, he has to set up a new life as a man named James Amberson, blending in while meeting people and forming relationships as he gathers information about his big plan. Unfortunately, Jake enjoys being James and living James's life a little too much — which is one of many factors that complicates an already difficult undertaking. 

The series was well-received, earning an 83% on Rotten Tomatoes. But it's one of those shows that only seemed to be a big deal right when it came out, and didn't remain in the public consciousness for very long — hence why Hulu didn't deem it worth the cost of renewing its license once it expired. But people can now check it out on Netflix, and find out for themselves that it really is one of the best Stephen King TV series of all time. 

Speaking of great TV adaptations of Stephen King creations that were produced by J.J. Abrams and streamed on Hulu (yes, that's specific), there is also 2018's "Castle Rock." For our money, that brief-lived show is even better than "11.22.63." Playing into the way that many of King's stories are loosely connected by taking place in fictional towns in Maine, "Castle Rock" takes the concept further by presenting something of a King cinematic universe — a tactic "It: Welcome to Derry" is employing, as well. "Castle Rock," meanwhile, directly connects stories like "The Shining," "Misery," "Shawshank Redemption," "Cujo," "The Green Mile," and more. 

While "11.22.63" was always intended to be a miniseries that told a complete story from beginning to end, "Castle Rock" went with a season-by-season anthology show format, where each season told a different story and followed different main characters — but still had some overlapping characters and arcs to tie everything together into a single fictional universe. Think "Fargo," "White Lotus," "The Haunting," et al. While that meant that "Castle Rock" could have continued for many years, and brought in more of King's 60+ stories as the show went on, it only got two seasons before being cancelled. 

As of now, the two seasons of "Castle Rock" are still streaming on Hulu — though they are also available on Netflix, too. Just in case Hulu lets it go, like it did with "11.22.63."