11.22.63 Ending Explained: Does Jake Stop JFK's Assassination?

The miniseries 11.22.63, based on the titular book by Stephen King, features a powerful ending that reminds us of the importance of humanity. Although Stephen King is known for his horror stories, he has dabbled in other genres. The most successful example of Stephen King’s sci-fi is his book 11.22.63, which was adapted into a miniseries.

In a world where time travel is possible, the story explores whether it’s possible to change critical historical events and whether we should. A diner owner named Al has been trying to do just that, and he enlists the help of a young man named Jake Epping. The portal in Al’s Diner will take him back to 1960, three years before the assassination.

Jake agrees to go back. However, he discovers that time pushes back when he tries to change it. Additionally, he discovers that it’s harder to exist in a world without getting sucked into it. Against his better judgment, he falls in love and becomes emotionally invested in the 11.22.63 characters from the past, distracting him from his mission. This builds toward 11.22.63’s tragic yet powerful ending.

How Jake Saved JFK & Why He Reversed This

Jake’s entire goal throughout 11.22.63 is to save President John F. Kennedy from being assassinated, believing that this would make the world a better place. However, the past continually pushed back on his attempts to take out Lee Harvey Oswald, and Jake even doubts his choice to murder him.

Ultimately, Jake and Sadie decide they need to finish Jake’s mission, doing whatever it takes to kill Kennedy. They bust into the room where Oswald is positioned after he gets the first shot off, but, like in real history, it misses. Their presence distracts him long enough for the president to get away before the second and third bullets.

Because Jake accidentally shoots Oswald, it prevents the assassin from attempting again. Unfortunately, it comes at the cost of Sadie, who was accidentally shot during Jake and Oswald’s scuffle. A distraught Jake returns to the present, thinking that his loss is worth it because it makes the whole world better.

This is a pivotal moment because Jake spends all of 11.22.23 asking “how do I stop JFK’s assassination?” and never stops to ask “should I stop JFK’s assassination?” Jake and Al Templeton clearly didn’t watch enough time-travel movies, watch enough TV shows, or read enough books before deciding to save JFK. Changing the past almost always has catastrophic consequences.

In this case, John F. Kennedy was followed by a fascist leader who bombed parts of the US. Kennedy reacted by creating refugee camps that had horrible conditions. Luckily, Jake knows that the future will reset if he re-enters the portal to the past. This puts everything back the way it was meant to be, allowing Oswald to assassinate President John F. Kennedy.

Why Jake Gave Up On Being With Sadie

When Jake goes back to the present, he’s still mourning the loss of Sadie. He’s willing to sacrifice his happiness for the greater good. However, when he goes back into the portal to reset everything, he sees Sadie and her friends drive by him. He thinks of this as his second chance.

Jake plans to meet her, woo her, and live his life with her. He truly believes they’re destined to live together. However, the Yellow Card Man shows up to inform Jake that he is now stuck in a loop. If Jake pursues Sadie, she will always die. It doesn’t matter whether they attempt to stop JFK’s assassination. She’ll still die because his mission is now Sadie, not JFK.

He will end up like the Yellow Card Man, going back through the portal over and over, never able to prevent her death but trying forever. The only way to prevent her death is to let her go. At first, Jake brushes him off and thinks he can defy fate, but he learns from his JFK mistake and decides to walk away from Sadie so that she can live.

Why Did Lee Harvey Oswald Want To Assassinate JFK?

In real life, Lee Harvey Oswald is a bit of an enigma. Because he was murdered just days after assassinating JFK, nobody could ever get a real motive out of him. The late Mel Ayton, an expert on the Kennedy assassinations, provided a pretty compelling breakdown of his potential motives for the History News Network. However, we’ll never really know for sure.

Because of this, it would have been easy for the creative team behind 11.22.63 to superimpose their own theories about his motives onto the character. Surprisingly, they chose to keep Lee Harvey Oswald’s motives unknown. The only potential explanation comes in the sentence he says before the shooting: “They will know your name.”

This aligns with the real-life Marina Oswald’s statement on the shooting. She stated, “From everything that I know about my husband, and of the events that transpired, I can conclude that he wanted in any way, whether good or bad, to do something that would make him outstanding, that he would be known in history” (via The New York Times).

While it might make the audience feel distant from the character Oswald, the choice to stay true to the real story and not explain Oswald’s actions preserves the feeling of confusion that Jake felt the entire time leading up to the JFK assassination. Even as Oswald’s neighbor, he couldn’t seem to come up with a reason for the event.

Bill’s Decision To Join Jake, Explained

In Stephen King’s book 11.22.63, Jake Epping works on his mission to save JFK mostly by himself. However, the TV show gives him a sidekick named Bill, who helps him study the assassination and spy on Lee Harvey Oswald for three years. Bill even plans to help Jake kill Lee Harvey Oswald for most of the series.

However, Bill’s willingness to join Jake is a little jarring, especially since the character was extremely minor in the book. The decision can’t really come down to saving his sister, which isn’t possible, or getting revenge on Frank Dunning, which happens before he joins Bill. Ultimately, his decision to work with Jake comes down to his desire not to be the town idiot.

In the book, Jake is very much searching for a purpose in life, and they seem to have put this feeling on Bill instead of Jake in the TV show. Bill wants to get out of his small town and do something good in the world. Plus, there’s the selfish motivation of wanting to get rich by making bets with Jake’s information from the future.

The Identity Of The Yellow Card Man

The Yellow Card Man appears in both the Stephen King book and the TV miniseries. However, their backstories are very different. In the miniseries, the Yellow Card Man is also a time traveler. He goes back in time repeatedly trying to save the life of his daughter, watching her die every single time. It doesn’t matter what he does.

His interactions with Jake seem to be him trying to pass on his wisdom from his own experiences. He knows that Jake won’t be able to accomplish his goal. The only difference between the two of them is that Jake’s goal changes many times throughout the series, so history pushes back in many different ways, instead of focusing solely on JFK’s assassination.

However, in the book, the card men are gatekeepers of the time portals, kind of, and physical representations of the timeline. The card men are monitoring multiple timelines at once, which is starting to wear on them. They don’t really intervene. The Yellow Card Man just happens to be the one protecting the portal at Al’s diner.

When the card is green, all is good in their head and with the timeline. When the card is yellow, their mind is neither great nor terrible, and the timeline is harmed. When the card is orange, their grasp on reality is almost entirely gone, and the timeline is in danger. When the card is black, the guardian has the worst mental state, and the timeline is destroyed.

The True Meaning Of 11.22.63’s Ending

The true meaning of 11.22.63 really comes when Jake goes to see the elderly Sadie in the present day. In this reality, she hasn’t done something life-changing on a grand scale, such as preventing an assassination. However, she has done something life-changing on a small scale. She has positively impacted the lives of so many students throughout her career as a teacher.

Sadie’s award essentially serves as a reminder that the most significant ways we can change the world are small actions. A smile. A kind teacher. A helping hand. Someone who really cares.

11.22.63’s ending proves Jake and Al were misguided for thinking they needed to do something drastic, like preventing JFK’s assassination, to make the world a better place. They needed to focus on their present actions, rather than dwelling on the past.