Netflix's 'Kennedy' Aims to Chronicle the Rise of An American Dynasty
We don't really do kings in America, but if we had a royal family, they'd probably look a lot like the Kennedy clan.
As a general rule, America isn’t big on monarchies. Sure, we like to watch the drama swirl around England’s King Charles II, his wayward children, and extended messy family across the pond. But our founding documents are pretty clear: No kings.
(There are even a whole lot of protests going on about this very issue!)
But just because we don’t want to be ruled by royals doesn’t mean we’re not fascinated by them. Just look at the massive critical and cultural success around Netflix’s The Crown, a six-season deep dive into the life and times of Elizabeth II and her reign. The streamer is clearly hoping to recreate that success — just with a more American flavor — in Kennedy, a sprawling, multigenerational drama about the closest thing this country has probably ever had to a royal family.
Based on Fredrik Logevall’s book, JFK: Coming of Age in the American Century, 1917-1956, the Netflix series aims to explore the triumphs and tragedies of the Kennedy clan, which has certainly had more than its share of both over the past century or so.
Here’s the series’ logline.
Kennedy reveals the intimate lives, loves, rivalries and tragedies that shaped the most iconic dynasty in modern history, and helped create the world we live in today. Beginning in the 1930s, the first season charts the improbable ascent of Joe and Rose Kennedy and their nine children, including rebellious second son Jack, who struggles to escape the shadow of his golden boy older brother.
The series cast is positively massive — it’s not quite reached The Gilded Age levels of excess yet, but it’s not far off — and it’s full of familiar faces. Michael Fassbender (Alien: Covenant) stars as family patriarch Joseph Kennedy, alongside Laura Donnelly (The Nevers) as his wife, Rose Kennedy. Nick Robinson (Damsel) plays doomed eldest son, Joe Kennedy Jr., and Joshua Melnick (Saint X) is future president John F. “Jack” Kennedy.
Rounding out the immediate Kennedy brood: Lydia Peckham (Robin Hood) as Rose Marie “Rosemary” Kennedy, Saura Lightfoot-Leon (The Agency) as Kathleen Agnes “Kick” Kennedy, Georgina Bitmead (Sex Education) as Eunice Kennedy, and Ben Miles (The Capture) as future Senator Edward Moore “Ted” Kennedy. Tipper Seifert-Cleveland (Crookhaven) and Miley Locke (There She Goes) play younger versions of Rosemary and Kick, respectively. (Interestingly, however, there’s” no word on who is playing the final two Kennedy children, Bobby and Pat, yet.)
Other notable cast members include Eddie Marsan (King & Conqueror) as J. Edgar Hoover, Toby Huss (Dickinson) as President Franklin Roosevelt, Imogen Poots (All of You) as film star Gloria Swanson, Denis O’Hare (Trying) as State Department official Raymond Furnes, Caitlin FitzGerald (Succession) as socialite Clara Boothe Luce, Wyatt Russell (Monarch: Legacy of Monsters) as aviator Charles Lindbergh, Cole Dorman (The Mastermind) as JFK’s long-time friend Lem Billings, and Hera Hilmar (The Romanoffs) and Patrick Fischler (Paradise) as journalists Inga Arvad and Arthur Crock.
There are a few British historical figures as well: Louis Landau (Rivals) as Kick’s eventual husband, the Marquess of Hartington, Billy Cavendish; Robin Soans (Dalgliesh) as Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain; and Albert Welling (Mr Bates vs. The Post Office) as Winston Churchill.
“The story of the Kennedys is the closest we have to American mythology — somewhere between Shakespeare and The Bold and the Beautiful,” Shaw told Netflix’s Tudum. “But Fredrik Logevall’s stunning, nuanced biography pulls a veil on the human strivings and burdens behind the myth, revealing as much about our present moment, how we got here and where we’re going, as about the Kennedys themselves.”
Sam Shaw (Manhattan) will serve as showrunner, with Thomas Vinterberg (Far From the Madding Crowd) directing the first and last installments of the eight-episode season. Executive producers include Vinterberg, Peter Chernin, Jenno Topping, and Kaitlin Dahill for Chernin Entertainment, Eric Roth, Fredrik Logevall, Lila Byock, Anya Epstein, Dustin Thomason, and Anna O’Malley.
Kennedy is currently in production in London. It is not expected to debut on Netflix until at least 2027.
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