Netflix announces new Kennedy family series starring Michael Fassbender

One of America’s most famous families is getting the Netflix treatment.

A new drama series titled “Kennedy,” based on Fredrik Logevall’s book titled “JFK: Coming of Age in the American Century, 1917-1956,” is coming soon, the streaming giant announced Monday.

The series will star Michael Fassbender as the family patriarch, Joe Kennedy, Sr., and will “explore the triumphs and tragedies of the Kennedy family.”

The triumphs as well as tragedies have been many for the Kennedys, the dynasty that produced the 35th US president as well as a New York senator and presidential hopeful, both assassinated. Talk of a Kennedy curse was reinforced when, among other unfortunate events, the former’s son, JFK Jr., lost his life along with his wife and sister-in-law in a plane crash in 1999.

A description of the show revealed that the series will begin long before John F. Kennedy occupied the White House, with the first season beginning in the 1930s and charting “the improbable ascent of Joe and Rose Kennedy and their nine children, including rebellious second son Jack, who struggles to escape the shadow of his golden boy older brother.”

“The story of the Kennedys is the closest we have to American mythology — somewhere between Shakespeare and The Bold and the Beautiful. But Fredrik Logevall’s stunning, nuanced biography pulls a veil on the human strivings and burdens behind the myth, revealing as much about our present moment, how we got here and where we’re going, as about the Kennedys themselves,” showrunner Sam Shaw said in a statement.

The series, not to be confused with the upcoming Ryan Murphy-produced “American Love Story” focusing on JFK Jr., does not yet have a release date. It will run for eight episodes.

Source: CNN
--Agencies