TV Show review
February 15, 2016 · 81 min · TV-MA
Woke Score
Lower is better
Review
An eight-episode Hulu miniseries from 2016 follows a divorced high school English teacher from 2016 who discovers a time portal and travels back to 1960. He tries to stop the assassination of President John F. Kennedy but builds a new life in the past, including a deep romance that threatens his mission. The story centers on personal relationships, the costs of changing history, and vivid 1960s period details. A supporting character was recast as Black with added scenes showing secret interracial romance and racial tensions of the era, which stands out as a noticeable but secondary element.
Breakdown
These are the editorial factors and ratings behind our score for 11.22.63.
Woke representation / casting
The lead roles go to white actors James Franco and Sarah Gadon in a straightforward heterosexual romance that matches the novel and 1960s setting. A supporting school administrator, Miz Mimi, was changed to Black (Tonya Pinkins) with added scenes of secret interracial romance and racial backlash to highlight era tensions. Jake's present-day ex-wife appears briefly as Black. These choices add visible racial contrast across time periods but stay limited to secondary characters, with no prominent lead diversity signaling, girlboss dominance, or identity-based competence tropes.
Woke political dialogue
No modern activist speeches, identity lectures, or explicit contemporary political messaging appear. Any talk of race or social norms stays rooted in 1960s attitudes and arises naturally when the time traveler confronts the setting.
Identity-driven story themes
The core narrative follows time travel ethics, romance, friendship, and the personal cost of altering history. Racial dynamics surface through one supporting character change and period backdrop details but remain background context rather than driving the plot, character arcs, or central conflicts.
Western institutional / cultural critique
The show depicts 1960s American life, including segregation, traditional gender roles, and small-town norms, often through the eyes of a visitor from the future. These elements highlight historical differences in an organic, plot-tied way without reframing them as ongoing systemic critiques of patriarchy, whiteness, or Western institutions.
Woke character or canon changes
The adaptation made a deliberate identity-driven change by recasting supporting character Miz Mimi as Black and adding scenes around her secret interracial relationship and racial tensions, none of which exist in Stephen King's novel where she is white. A minor present-day choice also shows Jake's ex-wife as Black to underscore era contrasts. These alterations prioritize highlighting 1960s racial issues over strict source fidelity, though they affect only secondary characters.
Anti-woke backlash and complaints
Almost no anti-woke or right-leaning complaints accused the series of promoting woke ideology, identity politics, or DEI agendas. Some book fans noted the Miz Mimi change as noticeable or intrusive, but criticism centered on story adaptation rather than political messaging. No major backlash campaigns emerged.
Creator track record context
Cached scores for key creatives remain low overall. Bridget Carpenter (0/100) and Kevin Macdonald (0/100) show no activist patterns. Stephen King (25/100) holds liberal views but has explicitly said he does not weigh diversity in art and keeps this project focused on character drama. J.J. Abrams (12/100) and other producers bring standard mainstream credits without representation-first emphasis here.
Production
