Netflix’s Kennedy Begins Filming in London as Michael Fassbender Leads New Historical Drama

Netflix has officially pulled back the curtain on Kennedy, a new historical drama series centered on one of America’s most famous — and complicated — political families.

The streaming giant has revealed that production is now underway in London, with Michael Fassbender set to lead the series as Joseph P. Kennedy Sr., the ambitious family patriarch whose influence shaped generations of American history. The project marks one of Netflix’s more high-profile period dramas in development, and it’s already drawing attention thanks to its cast and creative team.

Rather than focusing only on the years inside the White House, Kennedy will go further back, tracing the family’s rise beginning in the 1930s. According to Netflix, the first season will explore the private tensions, personal losses, romantic entanglements, and internal rivalries that defined Joe and Rose Kennedy’s household — and ultimately helped shape the future of the family’s second son, Jack Kennedy.

Netflix says the eight-episode series is inspired by historian Fredrik Logevall’s acclaimed biography JFK: Coming of Age in the American Century, 1917–1956. The story begins before the Kennedys became a permanent part of the American political myth, spotlighting Joe Kennedy Sr., his wife Rose, and their nine children as they emerge into national prominence.

Fassbender won’t be carrying the family saga alone. Laura Donnelly has been cast as Rose Kennedy, while Nick Robinson will play Joe Kennedy Jr. and Joshuah Melnick takes on the role of a young John F. Kennedy, here referred to as Jack. Netflix has also announced recurring cast members including Ben Miles, Lydia Peckham, Saura Lightfoot-Leon, Cole Doman, and Imogen Poots.

The supporting ensemble stretches well beyond the immediate family, reflecting the series’ broader political and cultural scope. Among the notable names joining the production are Wyatt Russell as Charles Lindbergh, Robin Soans as Neville Chamberlain, Albert Welling as Winston Churchill, Toby Huss as Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Eddie Marsan as J. Edgar Hoover. That lineup suggests Kennedy won’t just be a family drama — it may also function as a portrait of the shifting power structures surrounding the family during a volatile era.

Behind the scenes, Castle Rock creator Sam Shaw is serving as showrunner and executive producer. Oscar-winning filmmaker Thomas Vinterberg is also attached as an executive producer and is set to direct the first and final episodes. The producing team also includes Peter Chernin, Jenno Topping, Kaitlin Dahill, Eric Roth, Fredrik Logevall, Lila Byock, Anya Epstein, Dustin Thomason, and Anna O’Malley.

For now, Netflix has not announced a premiere window. The streamer has confirmed only that Kennedy will run for eight episodes and that filming is currently in progress, so fans may need to wait a little longer before learning when the series will debut.

Still, with Fassbender in the lead, a heavyweight creative team behind the camera, and a story built around one of the most mythologized families in American history, Kennedy is already shaping up to be one of Netflix’s most closely watched prestige dramas on the horizon.