11 Gripping Shows and Movies About the Kennedy Family to Watch After Finishing “Love Story”
11 Gripping Shows and Movies About the Kennedy Family to Watch After Finishing “Love Story”
Michael NiedSun, March 29, 2026 at 12:00 PM UTC
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Sarah Pidgeon as Carolyn Bessette and Paul Anthony Kelly as John F. Kennedy Jr. in Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette.Credit: Eric Liebowitz/FX
John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette Kennedy’s romance and its tragic end played out on TV screens across the globe with the release of Ryan Murphy's Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette.
The series follows the son of President John F. Kennedy and his relationship with the former Calvin Klein employee, capturing the soaring highs and challenging lows that accompanied the public scrutiny the high-profile couple faced on a daily basis.
Three years after they married on Sept. 21, 1996, JFK Jr. and Bessette died alongside her sister Lauren Bessette in a July 16 plane crash over the Atlantic Ocean.
Love Story — though it faced criticism from some, including a member of the Kennedy family — isn’t the only show that’s brought attention to one of America's most famous political families.
A number of fictionalized shows and documentaries have captured their history, and Netflix has another coming with Kennedy, a scripted series starring Michael Fassbender as JFK's father Joe Kennedy Sr., based on Fredrik Logevall’s book JFK: Coming of Age in the American Century, 1917-1956.
Here are 11 of the best shows and movies to watch about the Kennedy family after finishing Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette.
The Kennedys
Katie Holmes in 'The Kennedys'.Credit: Prime Video
Released in 2011, The Kennedys charts the family’s rise to political power, starting with patriarch Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. serving as the U.S. ambassador to the United Kingdom in the ‘30s.
The eight episodes capture JFK’s time as president and his assassination on Nov. 22, 1963, ending with Joe’s death in 1969 and Jackie Kennedy’s marriage to Aristotle Onassis.
With Katie Holmes bringing the iconic Jackie to life alongside Greg Kinnear’s JFK, the drama delivers plenty of intrigue.
Watch The Kennedys on Prime Video
The Kennedys: After Camelot
Alexander Siddig as Aristotle Onassis and Katie Holmes as Jackie Kennedy Onassis in 'The Kennedy's After Camelot'.Credit: Ken Woroner/REELZ/courtesy Everett Collection
Holmes returned as Jackie a few years later for 2017’s The Kennedys: After Camelot. The title referred to a myth that the former first lady started about her husband’s time in office.
Her telling perpetuated an idealized vision of JFK’s leadership and the family’s political impact that is still part of the conversation today.
As the miniseries’ title suggests, After Camelot picks up after the president’s death and charts what follows for the family. Several cast members from the original series returned alongside Holmes and new addition Matthew Perry, who brought Ted Kennedy to life.
Watch The Kennedys: After Camelot on Prime Video
JFK: One Day in America
John F. Kennedy in 'JFK: One Day In America'.Credit: National Geographic
Sixty years after his assassination at the hands of Lee Harvey Oswald, JFK: One Day in America offered insight into the president’s final hours with his wife and what followed.
The three-part docuseries features new interviews with witnesses to the tragic shooting, which occurred in Texas while JFK and Jackie were driving in a convertible.
Watch JFK: One Day in America on Hulu
American Dynasties: The Kennedys
President-elect John F. Kennedy and members of his family.Credit: Bettmann/Getty
Released in 2018, American Dynasties: The Kennedys is a six-part docuseries that charts the family’s time in the public eye.
Featuring interviews and archival footage, it captures the many tragedies but laid a groundwork for the future, highlighting Joe Kennedy III’s rise in politics as the start of a new era.
Watch American Dynasties: The Kennedys on HBO
Bobby Kennedy for President
Robert Kennedy in 1966.Credit: Netflix
Robert F. Kennedy was yet another member of the family with political aspirations. He served as his brother JFK’s attorney general before entering Congress as a senator in the ‘60s. While campaigning for the presidency, RFK was assassinated on June 6, 1968.
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Netflix’s 2018 four-part docuseries charts what was referred to as the “Bobby Phenomenon,” a time when RFK was viewed as the future of the Kennedys and America. Including interviews and archival footage, it zooms in on another tragedy that plagued the family.
Watch Bobby Kennedy for President on Netflix
The Kennedy Assassination: 24 Hours After
Vice President Lyndon B Johnson is sworn in to the office of the Presidency aboard Air Force One alongside Jackie Kennedy.Credit: Bettmann/CORBIS/Getty
Released in 2009, the History Channel’s The Kennedy Assassination: 24 Hours Later focuses on what happened in the immediate aftermath of JFK’s death as former Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson was sworn in as president.
Interviews and archival footage highlight how the country and those closest to JFK attempted to get back on their feet and set the scene for the years that followed.
Watch The Kennedy Assassination: 24 Hours Later on Hulu
Ethel
Ethel Kennedy in 'Ethel'.Credit: HBO
Ethel Kennedy, the widow of RFK, tells her story in the 2012 documentary Ethel, which was created by her youngest child, Rory Kennedy. The project charts the activist’s relationship with her husband and her life raising their 11 children.
Rory described her mom’s life as “one of the great untold stories,” explaining her desire to bring it to the screen.
“Our family knows my mother, and our close friends know her, but to be able to share her with so many other people I think was important,” she said at the time, via Today.
Watch Ethel on HBO
American Prince: JFK Jr.
John F. Kennedy, Jr. and his wife, Carolyn Bessette Kennedy on May 1, 1999 in Washington, DC.Credit: Ron Sachs/Consolidated News Pictures/Getty
Released a year before Love Story, American Prince: JFK Jr. tells the story of John Jr.’s rise in his father’s footsteps, from the launch of his magazine George to his untimely death.
The three-part HBO docuseries looks into the “remarkable life and enduring legacy” of JFK’s son, dubbed “the boy who would be king.”
Watch American Prince: JFK Jr. on HBO
Kennedy's Suicide Bomber
'The Suicide Bomber That Almost Killed Kennedy'.Credit: Smithsonian Channel
Three years before his death, JFK was the victim of an assassination attempt.
From the Smithsonian Channel, the 2013 documentary examines Richard Pavlick’s attempt to kill the president, featuring interviews and dramatized footage.
Watch Kennedy’s Suicide Bomber on Paramount+
Kennedy (1983)
Martin Sheen as John F. Kennedy in 'Kennedy'.Credit: NBC/Courtesy Everett Collection
Released in 1983, Kennedy is another scripted series that highlights JFK’s time in office, particularly highlighting “racial tension and missiles in Cuba,” per the official logline on Peacock.
Martin Sheen portrays the late president in the show, which was released to coincide with the 20th anniversary of JFK’s death.
Watch Kennedy on Peacock
Kennedy (2023)
John F. Kennedy is sworn in as President of the United States.Credit: History Channel
Sixty years after JFK’s death, the History Channel released a new eight-part docuseries about his “remarkable life, enduring legacy, and ambitious leadership.”
The project includes archival footage alongside interviews with the likes of Conan O’Brien, JFK's niece Kathleen Kennedy Townsend and more.
Watch Kennedy on the History Channel
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