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.
