The two Hollywood newcomers have proved naysayers wrong with their tender and touching portrayal of John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette in the new limited series.
Sarah Pidgeon had been cast as the titular blonde icon in Ryan Murphy and Connor Hines’s limited series Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette for months when she first met Paul Anthony Kelly.
He was reading for the role of JFK Jr., and it was immediately clear to her that he was perfect for the role. After the screen test, she found Murphy and told him they’d found their Prince of Camelot, and the producer did something unusual: He tasked her with passing on the good news. In that moment of simultaneous celebration and anticipation, both actors quickly realized what lay ahead of them. You can’t step into the shoes of one of America’s most beloved and beautiful couples, go through the motions of press and promotion, and then go back quietly into the night. Love Story was bound to change everything. By the time Kelly was cast, there were only three weeks until filming was set to start and, more importantly, three weeks for the show’s stars to buckle down and get it right. For both Pidgeon and Kelly, playing Carolyn and John came down to much more than simply looking the part. Their shared mission was to show audiences why John and Carolyn captured the world’s adoration in the first place and to remind us that underneath all the ’90s glamour, they were simply two people in love. To do it, they would need to develop an unusually high level of trust and connection. Kennedy and Bessette’s seven-year union has evolved from 1990s lore to certified American legend. John-John, as he was affectionately called, was the world’s most eligible bachelor, the editor-in-chief of George magazine, which he cofounded, and—for some—an obvious candidate to follow in his father’s footsteps as president of the United States. Carolyn Bessette was a paragon of chic whose understated style and job at Calvin Klein put her in the white-hot center of American fashion. Together they experienced the simultaneous aggression and affection of tabloids and the general public as they navigated the insurmountable scrutiny of their everyday lives as a couple. Today, they’re just as famous for the circumstances of their untimely demise, a continuation of the long-whispered-about Kennedy curse. So much of who they were—young, beautiful, mysterious, feisty, fashionable, and even, amid all the pressure and popularity, inherently real—represented the sort of American promise that few of us believe in anymore.Looking back, it’s clear their relationship would make prime fodder for TV one day. But in 2026, audiences are pickier than ever when it comes to the portrayals of real-life figures, especially those we’ve collectively mythologized after their deaths. That’s why news of the series, when it was first announced, was met with a commotion. Who could ever capture Carolyn’s elegantly demure sensibility? Who was handsome enough—regal enough, really—to take on John? The couple’s ongoing popularity was visible across books and documentaries and Pinterest boards everywhere, but was this even a story that anyone had the right to tell? Many naysayers counted the series out before we had even seen a first clip. But since the show premiered during Valentine’s Day week, it has become the top streamed new series on Hulu and Disney+. Viewers quickly became invested, thanks to the thoughtful performances from Pidgeon and Kelly.“When I got the role, the weight of that responsibility was always in the back of my mind, along with how much I wanted to do Carolyn justice in this interpretation of her story,” Pidgeon tells me. We’re talking the week of the show’s premiere, and she’s cozied up on a velvet couch in Midtown Manhattan with her costar, Kelly, next to her. They sit together like two longtime friends—which they’ve quickly become in the whirlwind of creating and promoting Love Story. “Connor wrote such an incredible character. That was evident in even just the two scenes that I had first read in my audition. I was familiar with Carolyn Bessette, but I did not know even a drop in the bucket of knowledge compared to what I know now.” Kelly, meanwhile, is still wondering how he got here. The 37-year-old actor and model was selected from a global search in which nearly a thousand actors tried to channel the charm of John F. Kennedy Jr.“The opportunity presented itself, and it was a big one. I just had this feeling like I could relate to him. I still think I do. I understand who he was at his core, and I think our values are aligned. It was something I knew I was capable of doing and I could have fun with and explore,” Kelly shares. “It was definitely a challenging role—and there were a lot of similarities that I could find myself in with him that I think eventually became a truthful characterization. But I’m still processing it,” he says, followed by a nervous laugh. “I still can’t believe it’s me.” Kelly was previously a model for all-American brands like Brooks Brothers and L.L. Bean. When I ask if he’s ready for the influx of fan-cam edits that will surely come after the show’s premiere, he holds his face in his palm and shakes his head no, endearingly. In general, he tries to stay off social media. “You can scroll through my TikTok if you don’t want to download it,” Pidgeon warmly offers, just in case he ends up curious.Spoiler alert: Since then, the TikTok vignettes have been fast and furious. Kelly might still be off social, but the rest of us have been happily giggling at clips of the actor in peak John F. Kennedy form. Think John biking through TriBeCa with a backwards cap, strolling through the offices of George magazine in an impeccably tailored suit, or showing up at Carolyn’s doorstep in the pouring rain following the burial of his mother, Jacqueline Onassis. Sure, that last scenario was very likely dramatized for the sake of the series, but fans have been grateful for it nonetheless.Still, thirsty fan edits can’t overshadow the real intention that Kelly put into his portrayal of JFK Jr. Even in John’s most vulnerable moments, like accepting his mother’s impending death or dealing with his flailing political magazine, Kelly is able to capture the complexity that makes the man.“There weren’t really any discussions on how exactly he should be , aside from the words that Connor wrote, which are so informative of what’s going on in the interiors of these individuals. How I approached playing him was the way I always kind of saw him holding himself,” says Kelly. “There are those quiet moments where he lets his guard down and he is a very kind, sarcastic, self-deprecating guy, but there’s also power in that. His goal in life was to just really be a normal dude, but you can’t escape that reality when you’re a Kennedy.”Love Story’s showrunner and head writer, Connor Hines, says his two stars ultimately brought out of each other what was needed to re-create John and Carolyn as they really were, beyond the tabloid image. “Paul and Sarah are both able to tap into what made John and Carolyn so unique. John had the grace and pedigree of royalty, but also this warmth, humility, and approachability—a balance that’s really hard to pull off. Carolyn had a fierce resolve and unwavering loyalty. If you crossed or betrayed her, there was no coming back,” says Hines. “I think early on, Paul and Sarah both recognized that each the perfect choice for the role. They are who they both would have chosen, and that gave them a real sense of confidence; they knew they could trust one another completely.”Even in just nine episodes, Love Story manages to pay homage to a number of prominent moments within John and Carolyn’s shared lore. Their original meet-cute courtesy of Calvin Klein, their first date at Panna II, and, yes, even the infamous public spat in Battery Park all make it into the series. If there was one event that the showrunners had to get right, it was the couple’s 1996 nuptials on Cumberland Island, off the southeast coast of Georgia. It was a landmark occasion that has managed to remain one of the most famous—yet simultaneously one of the most secretive—celebrity weddings of all time. Essential details like the venue , Carolyn’s groundbreaking ivory slipdress , the flickering candle-lit aisle, and even John’s tuxedo jacket draped over her shoulder for their first dance all made it into the show’s wedding episode.“There’s this wonderful documentary, The Lost Tapes, that has footage,” Pidgeon shares. “I watched that while I was getting ready for the role, and then I watched it again the night before we started shooting, and then I watched it again around the time of the wedding episode. To hear the people that knew them talk about just how much love and magic they all felt in that weekend was incredible.” Kelly echoes the sentiment of his costar. “It really was a transportive situation and place to be when we were re-creating the whole thing,” he says. “It’s one of the most famous weddings in American history, but then also so little is known about it because they wanted it that way. It was very hush-hush, and I think there’s something so romantic about that too. To relive that and reimagine it was a pretty special experience.” Love Story isn’t aiming to simply re-create the moments we all know and reference; it wants to paint a picture of the unknown in between too. What did they talk about at home? In their car? Who were they before the sunglasses went on and they stepped outside their TriBeCa loft?“Beyond the charm and good looks, Paul is able to convey the quiet depth of pain John carried after his father’s death, as well as the enormous pressure he faced as ‘America’s son’ every day,” Hines explains. “Sarah imbues Carolyn with strength and a sense of self, even in her lowest moments. Carolyn was a victim, but Sarah refuses to reduce her character to just that. I think audiences will see that even in the most contentious moments in their relationship, John and Carolyn are always fighting for each other.”For Kelly, of course, there was a trove of material to reference while becoming JFK Jr. Carolyn, however, required more of Pidgeon’s own imagination. She was one of the world’s most photographed women, but we rarely heard her speak. Out of all the archival footage of her, only 18 seconds feature her talking. Core Carolyn characteristics that we know only via anecdotes shared through friends and family—like her laugh, her intense eye contact, and the spark that she carried into every room—are all open to interpretation. To shape her performance, Pidgeon turned to books . She cites Sunita Kumar Nair’s CBK: Carolyn Bessette Kennedy: A Life in Fashion and Elizabeth Beller’s Once Upon a Time: The Captivating Life of Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy in helping form her version of Carolyn.“So much of Carolyn is this vibe; it’s this essence. There is a shared sense of people’s understanding of her. In the show, our interpretation really examines parts of her life that aren’t as familiar to the public,” says Pidgeon. “But there was always this sense of a vibe check—this is my attitude, my energy, my intuition—that I think of when I think of Carolyn.”As a publicist, Bessette would have known a thing or two about interacting with the media. “I admire that she was so self-possessed and knew herself so well, and I think she showed incredible strength in choosing not to speak.” Pidgeon continues. “She didn’t need to speak.” Likely, she understood the power that comes with being coy. There are more subtle details too that provide insight into John and Carolyn’s inner personalities. “ Carolyn’s physicality. She was incredibly affectionate with the people she loved,” says Hines. “And John was famously absent-minded, forgetting things or inadvertently throwing out his wallet. And they loved KFC.” Since Love Story’s premiere, it’s been clear that we’re still not ready to let John and Carolyn go—which raises the question of why. There are so few real-life fairy tales anymore—unions that we latch onto because we want them to thrive and flourish just as much as we want the same for our own lives. The tabloids may have wanted to ruin John and Carolyn, but the American public? They would have done anything to have had them for just a little while longer—to see what they could have become had they been given the chance. The show isn’t just a reimagining of their love story; it’s a depiction of how America fell in love with them too.True love endures, after all—even after death. At least, that’s what Kelly and Pidgeon are both taking away from their experience. “These are two individuals that lived an extraordinary life, and we’re really boiling it down to this love story and what they do to make it work,” says Kelly. “They fight, they love, it’s balls to the wall! They go for it. It is passion. That’s something that everyone at their core really desires.” Creative Director: Laura Genninger; Visual Director: Natasha Lunn; Deputy Visual Director: Claudia Cruz; Makeup: Shayna Goldberg; Hair: DJ Quintero; Grooming: Jess Ortiz; Photo Assistants: Ben Kasun, Diego Rodriguez
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