UPDATE: Here’s our first look at Michael Fassbender as Joe Kennedy — full image below. Still no official release date announced. Apparently, Vinterberg is directing every episode of this first season.
Furthermore, the rest of the cast includes Wyatt Russell (Charles Lindbergh), Eddie Marsan (J. Edgar Hoover), Denis O’Hare(Raymond Furness), Albert Welling (Winston Churchill), and Toby Huss (President Franklin D. Roosevelt)
EARLIER: A few weeks ago, I scooped about Thomas Vinterberg directing a Kennedy series for Netflix. There’s now a major casting update.
Netflix has now officially announced "Kennedy," an eight-episode series based on Fredrik Logevall’s book "JFK: Coming of Age in the American Century, 1917-1956." Michael Fassbender is attached to star as Kennedy family patriarch Joseph Kennedy Sr.
The official logline for the series states, “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. Beginning in the 1930s, the series charts the improbable ascent of Joe (Fassbender) and Rose Kennedy and their nine children, including rebellious second son Jack, who struggles to escape the shadow of his golden boy older brother.”
Much more casting is expected to be announced in the coming weeks.
Fassbender, a great actor known for being very selective in the roles he chooses, took a four-year break from acting at the end of the last decade, only to return in 2023 with three films in three years: “The Killer,” “Kneecap,” and “Black Bag.” His participation in Kennedy will certainly elevate the material.
Oscar-winning screenwriter Eric Roth (“Forrest Gump,” “Dune”) wrote the script. Sources indicate that Vinterberg’s involvement has already given the project serious momentum for a planned 2026 shoot.
Vinterberg, who earned an Oscar nomination for Best Director for “Another Round” and previously won the Cannes Jury Prize for “The Celebration,” is known for his provocative character studies — the other major highlight in his filmography is “The Hunt” starring Mads Mikkelsen.
