There will, of course, be a few familiar faces from the Murphy-verse. Naomi Watts will tackle the role of Jackie Kennedy, while Alessandro Nivola (father of Sim Nivola, who played the youngest Ratfliff sibling on season three of The White Lotus) will play Calvin Klein. Constance Zimmer will play Carolyn Bessette’s mother, Ann Messina Freeman.
Meanwhile, Grace Gummer (Meryl Streep’s daughter) plays Caroline Kennedy; Leila George (Vincent D’Onofrio’s daughter) is Kelly Klein, Calvin’s wife; and Sydney Lemmon (Jack Lemmon’s granddaughter) stars as Lauren Bessette. Listen, in a story of the Kennedys, a lil’ nepotism is kind of a requirement (Max Winkler, son of Henry, will direct the pilot).
Who created Love Story?
Connor Hines created the series under Ryan Murphy’s production banner. He also executive produces—along with the iconic Ryan Murphy, Nina Jacobson, Brad Simpson, Eric Kovtun, Nissa Diederich, Scott Robertson, Monica Levinson, Kim Rosenstock, D.V. DeVincentis and Tanase Popa. Max Winkler executive produced and directed the pilot episode. It is produced by 20th Television.
Why did the show draw controversy last summer?
On June 17, 2025, Pidgeon hit the streets of New York City (the couple lived downtown) in costume as Bessette, carrying a cup of iconic street coffee. Over on JustJared, you can see more pictures from the scene, including some cool moments of set decoration: magazines and newspapers “mocked up” to resemble real headlines from the era about Kennedy.
Originally, there was some criticism directed at Sarah Pidgeon’s wardrobe (Bessette was a minimalist fashion icon) and hair and makeup (is that wig just a touch too blonde?), but her look in trailer is spot-on.
