Everything you need to know about the new Netflix series ‘Kennedy’
You know how every family has that one story people can’t stop bringing up. The one that gets retold at every dinner table, each version a little more dramatic than the last? The Kennedys are basically that story, but for an entire country.
For decades, America has treated them like its favourite soap opera. And why not? Because this real-life tale has everything you need for the perfect drama: the power, the love stories, and the untouchable image that somehow always ends up cracking. And now Netflix has decided to rewind all the way back to where it really began. The time before the presidency, before the myth, before anyone called them “American royalty”.
But do not confuse the new series Kennedy to be just about John F. Kennedy in the White House. To everybody’s surprise, Netflix is taking to his father, Joe Kennedy Sr, and how he built the world that got him there. Michael Fassbender will be playing Joe Kennedy Sr, and honestly, it’s one of those casting choices that just makes sense.
The show takes its cue from historian Fredrik Logevall’s book JFK: Coming of Age in the American Century and sets up shop in the 1930s, when Joe and Rose Kennedy were raising nine children under one very ambitious roof. If you want a mental preview, think elegant dinner parties mixed with quiet tension, along with a father pushing his sons harder than anyone should. And of course, a family already caught between love and legacy.
It’s one of those kinds of stories that doesn’t just recreate history but makes you feel like you’re sitting in the room with them. And with this Netflix series, you can literally watch a dynasty start to take shape without realising what it’s becoming. And with Fassbender leading the way, Kennedy might just turn America’s most over-told tale into something fresh again.
What is the plot?
The series starts in the early 1930s, when Joe Kennedy Sr is still a rising name and not a household one. He is smart, strategic, and already thinking ten steps ahead for everything from business to politics, and about how to make the Kennedy name impossible to forget. Alongside him is Rose, his wife, holding together a household that’s less family and more training ground.
Across its first season, Kennedy shows how every small decision shaped not just the family’s fortune but the country’s. It’s about legacy before fame and the price that comes with wanting to be remembered.
Who’s in the cast?
Michael Fassbender takes the lead as Joe Kennedy Sr, the father whose ambition could build an empire and break a family at the same time. It’s his first major TV role in years, and everything about it feels like the kind of character study he’s built for. He’s the kind of man who can make you believe he’s saving you while he’s really saving himself.
The rest of the cast is still under wraps, but that’s part of the fun. A family this large means plenty of faces to obsess over once the full lineup drops, and knowing Netflix, they’ll find the perfect mix of newcomers and scene-stealers to fill that dinner table.
Is there a trailer available?
Not yet. The series is still in production, but the creative team behind it reads like a wish list, with showrunner Sam Shaw (Masters of Sex), director Thomas Vinterberg (Another Round), and writer-producer Eric Roth (Forrest Gump, Dune). That alone is enough to make people wait for the trailer like it’s an event.
When does Kennedy release on Netflix?
Netflix hasn’t said when Kennedy will arrive, and honestly, it’s still early days. The show’s just getting started, which means we’re probably looking at a long wait, maybe even 2027. But with a project like this, that’s not a bad thing.
So, for now, all we can do is wait and let Netflix cook. If it turns out half as good as it sounds, the wait will be worth it.