James Franco will time travel for Stephen King’s ‘11/22/63’

James Franco is going back in time for the upcoming Hulu original series “11/22/63,” based on the novel of the same name by Stephen King.

Franco will play high school English teacher Jake Epping, who discovers a way to travel back in time to the 1960s and then decides he’s going to try and stop the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Of course, his plan doesn’t go off without a hitch.

Franco will also join the series as a producer, alongside executive producers King, J.J. Abrams, Bryan Burk and writer Bridget Carpenter. The series is a production of Warner Bros. Television.

Though he has carved out a prolific big-screen career, even earning an Oscar nomination for “127 Hours” in 2010, Franco has continued to return to television. He did a stint playing a character named “Franco” on the daytime soap “General Hospital” from 2009 to 2012 and appeared in two episodes of “The Mindy Project,” aside from other TV appearances as himself.

This will be the first series he’s had a starring role in since his breakthrough performance in the 1999 series “Freaks and Geeks” alongside Seth Rogen, Jason Segel and Busy Philipps.

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For the Record

Feb. 12, 2:55 p.m.: An earlier version of this article misspelled actress Busy Philipps’ last name as Phillips.

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No time or date has been yet announced for when the series is expected to appear on Hulu.

Twitter: @patrickkevinday