CrossBinge
Explore CrossBinge →
Twelve Monkeys adaptations: films & series
Every version of Twelve Monkeys — the films & series, compared across media.
At the heart of Twelve Monkeys lies one haunting premise: a civilization reduced to underground survival by a catastrophic virus, and one man sent back through time to find where it all began. Drawn from the 1995 film's portrait of James Cole — a convict thrust into an impossible mission — this story of plague, fractured timelines, and shattered futures has expanded across both film and television, each version tracing the same race against a broken world.
Twelve Monkeys films
Twelve Monkeys series
Frequently asked
Is Twelve Monkeys based on a book?
The Twelve Monkeys story has been told through two screen adaptations: the 1995 film Twelve Monkeys and the 2015 TV series 12 Monkeys, both built around the same core premise of time travel and a world-ending virus.
How many versions of Twelve Monkeys are there?
There are two major screen versions: the 1995 feature film Twelve Monkeys and the 2015 television series 12 Monkeys, which expanded the premise into a multi-season drama.
Should I watch the film or the TV series first?
Start with the 1995 film Twelve Monkeys, the original telling of Cole's mission; the 2015 series 12 Monkeys then builds on the same world across multiple seasons with more room to develop the time-travel story.