Netflix released some new information about Kennedy and has created a lot of excitement around its new project. Recently, Netflix posted a behind-the-scenes photo from the set of the show, along with several new casting announcements. There has been much curiosity about the hiring of all the talent that is going to be a part of this project.
The TV show is mainly inspired by Fredrik Logevall’s book about JFK titled JFK: Coming of Age in the American Century, 1917-1956, and is not just mainly about JFK being president. The show really goes back further than just his time as president and looks at the family history going back to the 1930’s when Joe and Rose Kennedy were still developing their family reputation while raising nine children and becoming a family that would be recognized nationwide.
Ultimately, the story revolves around Jack, the family’s younger son, who continually struggles with his identity as Jack while enduring feelings of inadequacy due to having been raised in the shadow of his older sibling, Joe Jr. Sam Shaw, who worked on Manhattan and Castle Rock before, is the showrunner.
Danish director Thomas Vinterberg of Another Round is also directing. They are currently filming in London. The first season will consist of eight episodes. There is still no confirmed release date yet, and most people assume it won’t be available on Netflix until 2027.
The Kennedy Family and who is playing whom?
The biggest name attached to this show from the very beginning has been Michael Fassbender, and he is playing Joe Kennedy Sr., the father, the patriarch, the man who built the whole empire from scratch.
Fassbender has two Oscar nominations to his name and is probably best known lately for The Killer and Black Bag, so casting him in this role made a lot of people pay attention. Netflix also put out a photo of him in costume on set, and it is the first real look anyone has gotten at the show.
Right alongside him is Laura Donnelly, who is portraying Rose Kennedy, Joe’s wife and the mother of all nine children. Donnelly has been in The Nevers and Sugar before, so she is no stranger to heavy dramatic roles.
Nick Robinson, who people might remember from Netflix’s The Abandons, is playing the eldest son, Joe Kennedy Jr., and a newcomer named Joshuah Melnick has been given the job of playing young Jack Kennedy, which is no small thing to take on for someone just starting out. Both Robinson and Melnick are series regulars, so they will be in it throughout.
Some other members of the family in the cast include Georgina Bitmead as Eunice Kennedy, which is Joe’s and Rose’s fifth child. Then there is Miley Locke playing a younger version of Kick Kennedy, the fourth child, and Tipper Seifert-Cleveland playing the younger Rosemary Kennedy, who is the third. Earlier on, recurring roles were also announced for Lydia Peckham as the older Rosemary, Saura Lightfoot-Leon as an older Kick, and Cole Doman as Lem Billings, who was JFK’s best friend growing up. Imogen Poots is also in it, playing Gloria Swanson.
The “historical figures” joining the story
This is probably the most fascinating part of it all because the show does more than just build the family tree. It currently features several characters that existed during the lives of the Kennedy family in the 1930s and 1940s, and the way that the show has cast those characters is rather interesting.
Wyatt Russell has been in Thunderbolts and is now playing Charles Lindbergh, an aviator who has gained so much attention ever since making the first non-stop solo transatlantic flight in 1927. Other cast members include Patrick Fischler, who will portray Arthur Krock, an influential American journalist who led the New York Times Washington Bureau for over twenty years.
Caitlin FitzGerald was on Succession and Station Eleven. She portrays Clare Boothe Luce, who was not only a writer but a socialite with close connections to the family. Clare later went on to serve in Congress.
We have also got Louis Landau playing Billy Cavendish, Robin Soans as Neville Chamberlain, and Albert Welling has taken on the role of Sir Winston Churchill. Denis O’Hare is in the cast as Raymond Furness; he works at the US Embassy in London, representing the State Department.
The cast includes two of the most popular historical characters: Toby Huss as Franklin D Roosevelt and Eddie Marsan as J Edgar Hoover. Also included in the cast is Hera Hilmar, who plays Inga Arvad, a Danish journalist who was closely associated with young Jack Kennedy during the early 1940s. This part of Jack’s life is not talked about very often.
It is clear that the ensemble will be very large. With this much talent and people, the producers of the show have very big plans to delve deeper into the world of one of the most widely-discussed families of history.
Edited by Amey Mirashi