5 Best TV Shows Like Stephen King's 11.22.63

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One of the best Stephen King TV series ever made, "11.22.63" is now available on Netflix for those who missed it when it debuted on Hulu back in 2016. Like many of the best page-to-screen adaptations of King's work, this isn't one of the author's scary stories. Instead, it's a time travel-based sci-fi adventure wherein a man is offered the chance to go back in time to stop the assassination of John F. Kennedy, which occurred on the titular date. Chances are you're here because you've not only watched "11.22.63," but you enjoyed it so much that you're looking for more shows like it.

Fortunately, you've got a handful of pretty solid options in that regard. Four of our five recommendations are not only about time travel. but time travel for the purposes of "fixing" the past for a better future — either a better future for all of mankind, or just a better future for the people directly involved in the event. The other show doesn't involve time travel but it does take place during the same era as "11.22.63," only an alternate version of it that still brings in twisty sci-fi elements. So, if you're a "11.22.63" fan and you're looking for something similar to binge, make sure to check out these shows.

"Quantum Leap," which originally aired on NBC from 1989 to 1993, isn't the first time-hopping TV series, but it can be considered the mother of all TV shows that are specifically about traveling to the past in order to fix the future. It follows a scientist named Sam Beckett (Scott Bakula) who is able to "leap" across time by inserting his consciousness into other people. Unfortunately, a glitch in the process leaves Sam not only leaping from person to person uncontrollably, but left doing so indefinitely.

Sam doesn't just leap into random people with nothing special going on. He always leaps into someone facing some sort of problem, and, with the help of his holographic partner Al (Dean Stockwell), he has to first figure out what that problem is and then fix it. The moment he does, Sam leaps to the next person. Typically, that person is fictional, but he actually leaps into the body of JFK's assassin Lee Harvey Oswald during one particularly controversial episode.

One little-known truth about "Quantum Leap" is that advertisers at the time often balked at some of the weightier issues the series tackled, from politics and racism to mental health. However, the show also had plenty of fun — there are numerous episodes with extremely low stakes and intentionally silly storylines that make for a cozy watch. The series was rebooted in 2022 and that version is actually pretty decent, but, as is usually the case, the original is far superior.

Time travel shows sometimes struggle when the plot revolves around changing the past to "fix" the future, even if those changes are supposed to be for the better. That's because it's widely accepted among viewers of science fiction that changing anything in the past, good or bad, can have unforeseen and potentially catastrophic effects. If you are one of those people, "Timeless" might be more your speed, as the premise sees a group of people trying to stop a mysterious organization from altering the future — specifically, the future of the United States — by making changes to the past.

"Timeless" isn't afraid to go there in terms of addressing real historical events and having actors depict real people. Abraham Lincoln, Harry Houdini, Benedict Arnold, Eliot Ness, Frank Sinatra, J.P. Morgan, and many more — including, you guessed it, John F. Kennedy himself — all appear as characters across the show's two seasons. It very nearly ended at one, but negotiations after the initial cancellation announcement ended up convincing NBC to greenlight a second season. In what felt like a shout out to time travel TV show pioneer "Doctor Who," the finale of "Timeless" was a Christmas special that aired months after Season 2 had finished.

The entire "Terminator" franchise is built on the premise of trying to stop robots from the future from killing specific humans in the "present" before they eventually defeat the evil machines in the future. Initially, that means trying to kill a woman named Sarah Connor before she gives birth to future resistance leader John Connor. When the robots fail to do that, both John and Sarah become their targets.

The franchise first came to television via Fox's "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles," which ran for two seasons between 2008 and 2009. It follows Sarah (Lena Headey) and a teenaged John (Thomas Dekker) as they continue their fight to stay alive long enough to eventually lead the humans against the Terminators. Their goal is to stop the creation of Skynet, an artificial superintelligence that will eventually wage war on humankind.

When Looper ranked the "Terminator" films and TV shows from worst to best, we put "The Sarah Connor Chronicles" in third place — only the first two films (both absolute classics) are better. And, just like "Terminator: Dark Fate," the show chooses not to acknowledge anything other than "The Terminator" and "Terminator 2: Judgement Day" as canon, so you only need to have seen the two best "Terminator" movies to be able to follow this underrated sci-fi series. 

Based on the comic book series of the same name by Gerard Way, "The Umbrella Academy" is an action-oriented, superhero-flavored take on sci-fi time travel. The Netflix show sees the titular team trying to prevent one potential apocalypse after another, with people coming back from futures that have already experienced said apocalypses. Some of these people are trying to help the team, while others aim to hinder them.

Fans of "11.22.63" will be interested to know that the second season of "The Umbrella Academy" sends the team to the 1960s and covers John F. Kennedy's assassination. However, we should note that, of all the shows on this list, "The Umbrella Academy" definitely dips the furthest into the fantastical. Characters have legitimate superpowers here, and any sense of trying to keep the show grounded — as "11.22.63" does respectably well — is abandoned rather quickly. If that type of thing is a dealbreaker, then "The Umbrella Academy" might not be for you, but if you're a fan of "11.22.63" who also enjoys dark humor and superhero tropes, then you absolutely need to check it out.

On the whole, "The Umbrella Academy" — which ran for four seasons between 2019 and 2024 — was well-received by critics. The short and sweet fourth season isn't as acclaimed as the three that came before it, but it's still worth your time if you like time-traveling, future-fighting sci-fi shows with original premises.

Last but not least, we arrive at the aforementioned show that isn't about time travel but does transport viewers back to the same decade as "11.22.63." Where the sci-fi comes into play with 1996's "Dark Skies" is that it takes place in an alternate history version of the 1960s, one where aliens have been living among us for decades and the government is well aware of that fact.

Once again, the assassination of JFK is a major focal point — this and other historical events are either utilized or directly caused by the aliens as a means of manipulating humanity. Clearly an attempt by NBC to have its own show like the "X-Files," "Dark Skies" leans heavily into UFO conspiracy theories, which saw a major pop culture renaissance in the '90s. Despite positive critical praise and even a Primetime Emmy win, "Dark Skies" didn't have strong enough ratings for NBC to give it a second season.

It took many years for the show's single, 19-episode season to get a home media release because of all the licensed music that was used, but Shout! Factory finally released it on DVD under the title "Dark Skies: The Declassified Complete Series" in 2011. That's the only way to watch it, as the show remains unavailable to stream or even purchase or rent digitally. It's absolutely worth buying the highly-rated six-disc DVD set if you're a fan of this specific subgenre.