Two-time Oscar nominee Michael Fassbender (The Agency, The Killer) is on board to star as Joe Kennedy, Sr., in Netflix’s Kennedy. The eight-episode drama is based on JFK: Coming of Age in the American Century, 1917-1956 by Fredrik Logevall and has Sam Shaw (Castle Rock, Masters of Sex) guiding the project as executive producer and showrunner.
“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,” reads Netflix’s synopsis. “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.”
Additional executive producers include author Logevall, Eric Roth, Lila Byock, Anya Epstein, Dustin Thomason, and Anna O’Malley. Chernin Entertainment’s Peter Chernin, Jenno Topping, and Kaitlin Dahill also executive produce. Thomas Vinterberg (The Hunt) will direct and executive produce.
“The story of the Kennedys is the closest we have to American mythology—somewhere between Shakespeare and The Bold and the Beautiful. 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,” said Shaw in an interview with Tudum. “I’m thrilled to be able to explore this saga of a family and a world in transition with Eric Roth, Thomas Vinterberg and our incredible band of artists and partners, at a moment when our past feels urgently present.”
