Following his American Horror Story, American Crime Story, and American Sports activities Story franchises, prolific producer Ryan Murphy is returning with American Love Story, a brand new spin-off anthology sequence centered on romances that captured the world’s consideration. The primary installment’s focus? Everlasting type icon Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy and her husband, John F. Kennedy Jr. Right here’s every part we learn about it to date.
Who will play Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy in American Love Story?
Sarah Pidgeon, the American actor and quickly rising star whom you would possibly acknowledge from Prime Video’s The Wilds, or because the youthful model of Kathryn Hahn’s character in Hulu’s Tiny Stunning Issues, is taking the lead because the impossibly glamorous Bessette-Kennedy. It’s positive to be the 28-year-old’s splashiest onscreen half so far, although she did lately earn a Tony nomination for her Broadway debut in David Adjmi’s Stereophonic, and can be attributable to star within the I Know What You Did Final Summer season reboot alongside returning favorites Freddie Prinze Jr. and Jennifer Love Hewitt. Along with her stellar performing chops, immaculate type, and the uncanny resemblance between the pair, this actually appears like impeccable casting.
Who will play Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis in American Love Story?
The identical is true for the a part of Jackie, Bessette-Kennedy’s mother-in-law, which shall be taken by none aside from Naomi Watts. (Coincidentally, Watts and Pidgeon have already labored collectively on Scott McGehee and David Siegel’s 2024 drama The Good friend.) A veteran of the Ryan Murphy televisual universe, who starred in Netflix’s The Watcher and acquired each Golden Globe and Emmy nominations for her current portrayal of Babe Paley in Feud: Capote vs. The Swans, Watts is a pure match to play Paley’s fellow socialite and New York stalwart. She joins an extended listing of well-known faces who’ve taken on completely different eras of the previous first woman’s life, from Katie Holmes within the 2011 miniseries The Kennedys to Natalie Portman in 2016’s Jackie.
It could be a short time but earlier than we see Watts in Jackie’s signature pearls and pillbox hats, however earlier than then, ensure that to look out for the double Oscar nominee in one other breathlessly awaited Murphy-helmed challenge: All’s Honest, the shiny authorized drama wherein she’ll co-star with Kim Kardashian, Glenn Shut, Sarah Paulson, Niecy Nash, and Teyana Taylor.
And what about John F. Kennedy Jr.?
The present’s central trio was accomplished with newcomer Paul Kelly, who shall be taking the a part of John F. Kennedy Jr., the son of JFK and Jackie and the husband of Carolyn. Murphy and his casting crew reportedly auditioned greater than 1,000 actors earlier than choosing Kelly.
Certainly, Ryan Murphy proved simply how canny a selection that was on June 13, when he posted an exhilarating first glimpse of Pidgeon and Kelly in costume as Carolyn and John Jr. to his Instagram. Whereas a blond-tressed Pidgeon was wearing a CBK-worthy mustard leather-based trench with a black mockneck high, black pants, and low black pumps, Kelly appeared in just a few completely different ensembles. Whereas in his image with Pidgeon he sports activities a darkish go well with and natty patterned tie, in a single solo he’s a bit extra bohème, clad in a grey button-up shirt, open black vest, denims, and a beret—a glance that eagle-eyed Kennedyites will recogize from actual paparazzi pictures.
Murphy additionally gave followers a way of the sequence’s manufacturing timeline and launch date. “FIRST LOOK!” his Instagram caption learn. “Listed below are some stills from our LOVE STORY digicam check. We began taking pictures this week in New York Metropolis and might’t wait till you see the romantic and tragic love story between America’s prince, JFK Jr., and vogue icon Carolyn Bessette—out Valentine’s Day week of 2026. I’m thrilled to introduce you to Sarah Pidgeon as Carolyn and Paul Kelly as John F. Kennedy Jr. Over a thousand actors auditioned for every of those roles, and we completely discovered the proper selections.”
Who else shall be within the solid of American Love Story?
Deadline broke extra casting information on June 6, revealing that Grace Gummer would play JFK Jr.’s older sister, Caroline Kennedy; Sydney Lemmon, identified for her roles on tv (in Helstrom and Concern the Strolling Lifeless) and on Broadway (in Max Wolf Friedlich’s Job), would play Carolyn’s sister, Lauren Bessette; and Alessandro Nivola would play Carolyn’s longtime employer, Calvin Klein.
What, precisely, would be the plot of American Love Story?
Carolyn Bessette, born in upstate New York and raised in Connecticut, was a vogue publicist who labored at Calvin Klein, and met John F. Kennedy Jr., then an legal professional and outstanding writer, in 1992, when he was nonetheless courting Splash star Daryl Hannah. He and Bessette bought collectively two years later, had been engaged by 1995, and for his or her secret 1996 marriage ceremony, she selected a minimalist white slip gown by Narciso Rodriguez, her pal and colleague at Calvin Klein, making the designer a family identify in a single day.
