july // 2026
London, Liverpool and a beach: The UK filming locations of Netflix's serie Kennedy
Kennedy
It was the hottest day of the year in England. On a beach somewhere in South East England, a young actor playing a young version of John F. Kennedy said goodbye to the cast and crew — and burst into tears. That moment, captured in behind-the-scenes photos in late June 2026, marked the end of filming an ambitious historical production of Netflix.
Filming on Kennedy began in London on January 5, 2026 and ran for six months through to June, under the secretive working title Victura — a name with deep Kennedy family meaning: Victura was the name of the sailboat Jack Kennedy owned and loved throughout his life.
The series was created by Sam Shaw and directed by Thomas Vinterberg (Another Round, The Hunt), with Eric Roth (Forrest Gump, Killers of the Flower Moon) as executive producer. It is, by any measure, a formidable creative team.
Michael Fassbender leads as Joe Kennedy Sr., alongside Laura Donnelly as Rose Kennedy, Nick Robinson as Joe Kennedy Jr., and Joshuah Melnick as young Jack. The ensemble extends to Eddie Marsan as J. Edgar Hoover, Toby Huss as FDR, Wyatt Russell as Charles Lindbergh, and Imogen Poots as Gloria Swanson.
London: The Production Base
The primary production base was London, where filming ran from January through March 2026. London has long been the default home for American period drama produced by British and European crews — its studio infrastructure, period architecture, and depth of craft talent making it the logical anchor for a production of this scale. Specific London locations have not been publicly disclosed, but the production used the city extensively for interior sets and studio work before venturing north.
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Liverpool: 1930s America on the Mersey
In April, the production relocated to Liverpool, where Water Street, Rumsford Street, and Fenwick Street were used to double for 1930s America. The transformation was meticulous. Vintage 1940s taxi cabs were parked along the street. A brilliantly constructed vintage green newsstand was installed, at which Fassbender's Joe Kennedy Sr. was filmed purchasing a newspaper. The sandwich board headline read: "Roosevelt Says 'SITUATION ON BEACH IS TENSE — WE PRAY'" — a direct historical reference to the D-Day landings. Extras and supporting cast were dressed in sharp pinstriped and navy double-breasted suits, structured coats and stylish 1940s hats, with military personnel in naval uniforms passing in the background.
Filming took place right next to the iconic Liver Building — Liverpool's grand Edwardian waterfront landmark — reads convincingly as a building in an American East Coast city. It is a visual trick Liverpool has pulled off many times before: its Victorian and Edwardian streetscape so closely mirrors the urban architecture of Boston and New York that the city has become one of Europe's most reliable stand-ins for mid-century America.
A beach in South East England
Production wrapped on a beach in South East England, filmed on what was the hottest day of the year so far in the UK. The sequence featured Laura Donnelly as Rose Kennedy alongside Joshuah Melnick as young Jack. According to sources on set, the beach sequence marked Melnick's final day of filming. Maybe the beach is meant to represent the Cape Cod coast of the Kennedy family's summers.
Kennedy is expected to arrive on Netflix in 2027.
SOURCE
What's on Netflix // Wikipedia / People // Explore Liverpool
CREDITS
Photo: Rob Youngson / Netflix
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