18 Years Later, HBO’s Emmy-Sweeping Historical Epic Is Still an Essential Watch

Published Sep 18, 2026, 6:28 AM EDT

Julio is a Senior Author for Collider. He studied History and International Relations at university, but found his calling in cultural journalism. When he isn't writing, Julio also teaches English at a nearby school. He has lived in São Paulo most of his life, where he covers CCXP and other big events. Having loved movies, music, and TV from an early age, he prides himself in knowing every minute detail about the things he loves. When he is older, he dreams of owning a movie theater in a small countryside town.

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Hardly anyone thinks about John Adams first when talking about the most memorable American presidents. The second President of the United States isn't as celebrated as his predecessor, George Washington, or his successor, Thomas Jefferson, but he still played a crucial role in securing and consolidating the country's independence. That overlooked legacy is at the center of John Adams, HBO's seven-part historical miniseries led by Paul Giamatti and Laura Linney as John and Abigail Adams.

Nearly two decades after its 2008 premiere, John Adams remains one of HBO's most decorated limited series. The miniseries earned 23 Emmy nominations and won a staggering 13, including Outstanding Miniseries and Lead Actor for Giamatti. With a cast that also includes Tom Wilkinson, Stephen Dillane, Rufus Sewell, David Morse, Sarah Polley, and Justin Theroux, the series remains one of HBO's most ambitious historical dramas — and one well worth revisiting 18 years later.

‘John Adams’ Highlights an Often Overlooked Founding Father

The HBO series isn't a loose adaptation of historical events — it's based on historian David McCullough's book, which earned him a Pulitzer Prize in 2002, so we know there's a good degree of historical accuracy behind the story that's shown on-screen. These credentials make the series a must for any history buff. John Adams does take some artistic and creative liberties, but none of those impact the viewing experience.

Collider Exclusive · Universe Personality Quiz Which Iconic Universe Do You Belong in the Most? Star Wars · Lord of the Rings · Harry Potter · Game of Thrones · Star Trek

Five legendary universes. Five completely different visions of what the world could be — or already was. One of them is the world your instincts, your values, and your particular way of existing were built for. Eight questions will tell you which one.

🚀Star Wars

💍Lord of the Rings

🧙Harry Potter

👑Game of Thrones

🖖Star Trek

FIND YOUR UNIVERSE →

01

What gives your life its deepest sense of meaning? Every universe is built around a different answer to this question.

ABeing part of something larger than myself — a cause, a rebellion, a fight for freedom that outlasts me. BThe journey itself — the places I'll go, the companions beside me, the world I'll discover on the way. CLearning — unlocking what I'm capable of, understanding the world's hidden mechanics, growing into something more. DLegacy — the name I leave behind, the power I build, the mark I make before the world moves on without me. EUnderstanding — exploring what exists beyond the horizon and asking what it means to be alive in a universe this vast.

NEXT QUESTION →

02

Which kind of world do you most want to inhabit? The environment shapes who you become. Choose carefully.

AA galaxy of planets, each with its own culture — connected by conflict, trade, and the Force. BAncient lands of breathtaking beauty, deep history, and a creeping darkness at the edges. CA world hidden inside our own — full of wonder, community, and magic waiting to be learned. DA brutal, beautiful continent where power is everything and every alliance is a calculation. EA future where humanity has reached the stars — and must decide what kind of species it wants to be.

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03

How do you prefer your conflicts resolved? The shape of a world's conflicts tells you everything about its soul.

AThrough sacrifice and courage — someone has to make the impossible choice so others don't have to. BThrough fellowship — the impossible becomes possible when the right people walk the same road. CThrough growth — confronting what you fear, understanding what you lack, and becoming equal to the challenge. DThrough strategy — outthinking, outmaneuvering, positioning yourself so the outcome was never in doubt. EThrough dialogue — finding the third option, the peaceful resolution, the answer that doesn't require a body count.

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04

Who do you want beside you when things get difficult? Your ideal companions reveal the world you were made for.

AA small crew — a pilot, a rogue, a warrior — each broken in their own way, unbeatable together. BA fellowship of different kinds of people, bound by purpose and deepened by the long road. CFriends who grew up alongside me — who knew me before I knew myself, and stayed anyway. DAllies whose loyalty I've earned — and tested — and whose ambitions align with mine, for now. EA crew of brilliant, curious, principled people from every corner of known space.

NEXT QUESTION →

05

What is your relationship with power? How you seek, wield, or resist power is the map of who you are.

AI want to use it to protect — and I'm terrified of what I might become if I'm not careful. BI distrust it. The most important power in this story is the courage to give it up. CI want to earn it — through knowledge, through effort, through becoming someone worthy of it. DI want to wield it. Preferably before someone else decides to wield it against me. EI want to understand it — its structures, its limits, its ethical dimensions. Power without accountability is the real threat.

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06

How does your universe treat good and evil? A world's moral architecture tells you more about it than any map.

AThere is a dark side and a light side — and the choice between them is always present, always personal. BEvil is real and ancient and patient — and goodness, however small, is the only thing that can undo it. CGood and evil are real, but they live inside people — and people are complicated, always capable of both. DGood and evil are mostly a matter of perspective and proximity. Power is the only honest currency. EEvil is usually the result of ignorance, fear, or broken systems — and understanding it is the first step to solving it.

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07

What role would you naturally fall into? Every universe has archetypes. Which one fits you without trying?

AThe reluctant hero — ordinary origins, extraordinary moment, changed forever by the choice to act. BThe unlikely carrier — the one nobody expected to matter most, quietly bearing the weight of everything. CThe student — not yet who I'll become, learning through every mistake, growing into something the world needs. DThe player — sharp enough to see the game for what it is, ambitious enough to try to win it. EThe explorer — drawn to the unknown, driven by curiosity, most alive when standing somewhere no one has stood before.

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08

What do you ultimately believe about the future? The answer to this is the clearest window into which universe already lives inside you.

AThat hope is real — that even in the darkest galaxy, a new hope is always possible. CThat even the smallest person can change the course of the future, if they have the courage to try. CThat love and friendship and doing what's right will matter in the end, even when everything says otherwise. DThat the wheel keeps turning — that power shifts, winters end, and what endures is those willing to fight for it. EThat humanity — or whatever we become — is capable of extraordinary things, if we choose to be.

REVEAL MY UNIVERSE →

Your Universe Has Been Chosen You Belong In…

Your answers point to the iconic universe your values, your instincts, and your particular way of seeing the world were built for. This is where you would find your people — and your purpose.

Star Wars

You believe in the cause — in the idea that freedom is worth fighting for even when the odds are impossible and the empire is vast.

• You are drawn to the moral clarity of a universe where hope itself is a form of resistance.
• You'd find your people in the Rebellion — a ragtag coalition of true believers held together by conviction more than resources.
• Star Wars is fundamentally a story about ordinary people choosing to matter in an extraordinary conflict — and that is exactly your kind of story.
• The Force may or may not be with you. But the will to use it for something larger than yourself certainly is.

Lord of the Rings

You understand, in the deepest part of yourself, that the journey matters as much as the destination — and that the world's beauty is worth protecting even at great cost.

• Middle-earth is a world of ancient wonder, deep friendship, and a darkness that only retreats when enough small acts of courage accumulate.
• You would thrive here because you value the fellowship more than the glory — the road more than the arrival.
• Tolkien's universe rewards patience, loyalty, and the willingness to carry something heavy across a very long distance.
• Those are not burdens to you. They are simply how you move through the world.

Harry Potter

You believe that love, loyalty, and doing what's right are not naive sentiments — they are the most powerful forces in any world, magical or otherwise.

• The Wizarding World is a place of wonder hidden in plain sight, where learning is transformative and the bonds you form at school follow you into every battle.
• You would flourish here because you take both the magic and the friendships seriously — and you understand that one without the other is incomplete.
• Harry Potter's universe ultimately rewards those who choose to stand for something even when standing is terrifying.
• That choice — made quietly, without guarantee — is something you understand completely.

Game of Thrones

You see the world clearly — its power structures, its hypocrisies, its brutal arithmetic — and you are not paralysed by that clarity. You use it.

• Westeros is a world that rewards intelligence, adaptability, and the willingness to understand that every alliance is also a negotiation.
• You would survive here — possibly thrive here — because you don't confuse the world as it is with the world as you'd like it to be.
• Game of Thrones is a story about what happens when the idealists and the realists collide. You are sharp enough to know which one lasts longer.
• Winter always comes. You are already prepared.

Star Trek

You believe the future is worth building — that curiosity, cooperation, and the expansion of understanding are not just ideals but the most practical path forward for any civilisation.

• Star Trek is a universe where the questions matter as much as the answers, and where encountering something utterly alien is cause for wonder rather than fear.
• You would belong here because you are fundamentally optimistic about what intelligence and decency can achieve — while being honest about how hard that achievement is.
• The Federation is the universe's most ambitious thought experiment: what if we actually got better?
• You don't just hope that's possible. You think it's the only thing worth working toward.

↻ RETAKE THE QUIZ

As a historical figure, John Adams isn't very celebrated. He is one of the Founding Fathers and was important in securing U.S. independence, but he isn't usually regarded in the same group as George Washington (Morse) and Thomas Jefferson (Dillane), who were both his predecessor and successor as presidents, respectively. As the second President of the United States, Adams was also the first not to be reelected for a second term, as both Washington and Jefferson were. Even Benjamin Franklin (Tom Wilkinson) and Alexander Hamilton (Rufus Sewell), who were never presidents, come to mind before Adams when talking about U.S. history.

As unremarkable as it may seem at first, John Adams still has a story that is worth telling because of his commitment to the cause of independence and the role he played in it. When people were blatant in their defense of ideologies, he acted as the voice of reason in favor of the rule of law and simply doing the right thing. This meant Adams often had to disagree with figures who held much more weight than him and often did it bluntly and without any regard for whom he was talking to, something that Benjamin Franklin constantly reminds him of in the series. Adams's relations with Franklin and Thomas Jefferson were tense because of his short temper, being blunt and objective, while the other two were more diplomatic and inclined to the pleasantries of politics for those who come from power and riches.

Adams came from a working background, meaning he found such things either pointless or simply a waste of time and resources, if not downright unfair to the people. When he travels to France to attend a meeting with King Louis XVI (Damien Jouillerot) with Benjamin Franklin and later has an awkward meeting with King George III (Tom Hollander) in London, it becomes evident that his penchant for politics and diplomacy would never be as sharp as his peers'.

Even if he was a little clueless at times because of his temper and behavior, Adams's pragmatic and objective approach to politics was something that set him apart from the other Founding Fathers. While many of them were important and influential people in American society back then, Adams's background brought him closer to the figure of the "little man," someone who had experienced life as one of the people and knew what their needs were. As such, he had a reverence and respect for power that didn't allow him to revel in it. He was angry when he wasn't elected the first president and when he wasn't reelected after his term, and often relied on Abigail's council to come to terms with this, but ultimately accepted his lot in history and even started the first American political dynasty, as his son John Quincy (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) went on to become the sixth U.S. President after witnessing firsthand his father's political career.

Adams’s Feud With Thomas Jefferson Helped Shape Modern U.S. Politics

Image via HBO

Thomas Jefferson has arguably maintained a larger place in the popular imagination than John Adams. He wrote the Declaration of Independence, was the first Secretary of State, was President for two whole terms, and, in the end, his idea of giving power to the states prevailed over Adams's principle of a strong central government. Their political rivalry also reflected some of the ideological divisions that helped define the country's early party system.

John Adams depicts Adams and Jefferson's rivalry interestingly, starting mostly in Episode 5, "Unite or Die," as both Jefferson and Hamilton are brought into George Washington's inner circle while Adams is left to deal with the Senate. As vice president, he feels his talents are wasted, and a rift begins to grow between him and Jefferson, who used to be friends and have mutual respect despite their ideological and political differences. Even after Adams narrowly beats Jefferson to become the second U.S. President, his term is mostly overshadowed by a rift between Hamilton's and Jefferson's factions.

The series portrays Hamilton as an almost greedy person, too concerned with power and authority despite his obvious competence, while Jefferson is a quiet but sharp genius who only speaks to deal finishing blows to the matter at hand. Both try to sway Adams over to their side on the matter of Napoleon's government in France, but Adams is adamant on neutrality and feels that domestic politics are more important. When Jefferson beats Adams in the 1800 elections, the latter is so bitter that he retires from politics altogether.

Over the last episode, "Peacefield," Adams and Jefferson, both now very old, trade letters and get over most of their rift. They died on the same day — July 4th, 1826, the 50th anniversary of the USA — only hours apart, and their deaths are shown as happening simultaneously in a gorgeous scene directed by Tom Hooper (who directs the whole series). Jefferson dies first, and Adams's last words are "Thomas Jefferson survives." He was unaware of his rival's death, but these words now sound ominous, as Jefferson's legacy far outshines Adams's.

‘John Adams’ Swept the Emmys in 2008

When John Adams premiered in 2008, prestige television looked very different. HBO was already synonymous with ambitious dramas, but sprawling, movie-star-led limited series still carried the feeling of an event. Having Tom Hanks aboard as an executive producer certainly didn't hurt. John Adams may not have the enormous battle sequences viewers might expect from a story about the American Revolution, but its quieter approach paid off: the series won Outstanding Miniseries and ultimately collected 13 Emmys from 23 nominations.

Most of that is thanks to Kirk Ellis's adaptation of McCullough's biography and Hooper's directing, both providing the series' ensemble cast with quality material to play with. Every actor in John Adams is extremely talented and immediately recognizable in their roles, even for those who aren't versed in U.S. history. This sort of show about "history's great men" requires artistic prowess so as not to feel like a school play, and none of the cast lets the ball drop, starting with Giamatti's John Adams, a role which got him an Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor in 2008.

Although Adams is the protagonist of the series, his role in history is more of a supporting one, and Giamatti understands the assignment to the point of making us feel bad for Adams. George Washington's oath of office scene is heartbreaking, as we see him sidelined for greater men to get the spotlight, while it also leaves no question that that's where he belongs — a lot of which is thanks to David Morse's low voice and gravitas as Washington. No surprise, Morse was also nominated for Outstanding Supporting Actor at the Emmys.

But Adams doesn't settle for a supporting role, and his clashes with Jefferson, Hamilton, and Benjamin Franklin (whom the series depicts as a sort of inconsequential political genius, earning an Emmy for Tom Wilkinson, too) rival his relationship with his wife, Abigail. It's sad to see such an intelligent and well-read person relegated to the role of "great man's wife," and she uses her political prowess to prevent Adams from melting down in the face of his problems and opponents. In that sense, Linney and Giamatti are the definition of a power couple. Like Giamatti, Linney won the Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress. In total, John Adams swept the 2008 Emmys with 13 wins, also winning four Golden Globes in 2009.