“Love Story” Producers Brace for Kennedy Family Reaction to Finale: 'I Hope We've Done Right by Them'
“Love Story” Producers Brace for Kennedy Family Reaction to Finale: 'I Hope We've Done Right by Them'
Benjamin VanHooseFri, March 27, 2026 at 5:34 PM UTC
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Paul Anthony Kelly and Sarah Pidgeon in "Love Story"Credit: Eric Liebowitz/FX -
Love Story executive producers Brad Simpson and Nina Jacobson spoke about the season 1 finale in an interview
When asked how the Kennedy family might react to the show, Simpson said, "I hope we’ve done right by them"
FX's Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette season 1 is now streaming on Hulu
The makers of Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette hope the real-life surviving family members appreciate the show.
Brad Simpson and Nina Jacobson, the executive producers behind the Ryan Murphy series, spoke to Vanity Fair for an interview published Thursday, March 26, as the finale episode dropped on FX and Hulu.
When the outlet noted that some Kennedy family members were "vocal about their distaste" of the show and asked the producers whether they are "prepared for the Kennedy family’s reaction" to the finale, Simpson said, "Throughout this process, we’ve tried to approach all the characters with sincerity."
"Our writers, [creator] Connor [Hines], Ryan and the producers — we all love these characters, and we have great respect for the Kennedy family. It’s been an honor to bring JFK Jr. and Carolyn to a generation who maybe didn’t know them as well," continued Simpson. "I hope we’ve done right by them."
Jacobson added, "That really sums it up. I think it’s hard to miss how much we love the characters. It’s a love story. It’s pretty critical that you really love them, and you really want them to be together."
Paul Anthony Kelly andSarah Pidgeon in "Love Story"Credit: FX
"Anytime you’re dealing with people whose lives are real, you never know whether you can ever do right by people in that regard, no matter how hard you try," she continued. "I think it’s hard not to look at how much affection and devotion we’ve had to these characters. All we can do is hope that that comes through: that we’ve done it with respect and a very earnest, open heart."
Jacobson — who, along with Simpson, is also behind Murphy's ripped-from-the-headlines American Crime Story series — told Vanity Fair they "never wanted" Love Story to "feel prurient, indulgent, exploitative, horrific."
"We knew what our guardrails were, how we wanted it to feel — and how we definitely wanted it not to feel," she explained.
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Grace Gummer as Caroline Kennedy in "Love Story"Credit: FX
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The emotional finale episode, titled "Search and Recovery," chronicles the aftermath of the fatal 1999 plane crash that killed John, 38, Carolyn, 33, and her older sister Lauren, 34. Paul Anthony Kelly and Sarah Pidgeon star in the show as the late couple. Lauren is played by Sydney Lemmon.
John's nephew Jack Schlossberg, one of Caroline Kennedy's three children, has openly criticized the show for capitalizing on their family tragedy.
“If you want to know someone who’s never met anyone in my family, knows nothing about us, talk to Ryan Murphy,” the 33-year-old recently said on CBS Sunday Morning while discussing his congressional campaign. "The guy knows nothing about what he’s talking about, and he’s making a ton of money on a grotesque display of someone else’s life."
Daryl Hannah, the movie star who previously dated John before he married Carolyn, wrote a scathing essay for The New York Times slamming the show and how it depicts her.
From left: Nina Jacobson, Brad Simpson, Grace Gummer, Paul Anthony Kelly, Sarah Pidgeon, Naomi Watts and Connor Hines on Feb. 3, 2026Credit: Stephanie Augello/FX via Getty
"Many people believe what they see on TV and do not distinguish between dramatization and documented fact — and the impact is not abstract," Hannah, 65, wrote. "In a digital era, entertainment often becomes collective memory. Real names are not fictional tools. They belong to real lives."
Simpson and Jacobson previously told PEOPLE that the show, which is inspired by Elizabeth Beller’s book Once Upon a Time: The Captivating Life of Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy, is "not a take-down." They added that they did not contact anyone from either the Kennedy or the Bessette family to consult on the project.
"We are approaching this with sincerity and love for these characters. It is a very honest, sincere take on their lives," Simpson said. "We're not trying to do something that feels tabloid-ish. We're trying to tell one of the great love stories of our time."
He added, "We were always cognizant that there were real people who were still touched by this, who knew them or were around them. They were beloved, both by America, but also by their friends, and we hope that we did them justice."
Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette is now streaming on Hulu.
on People
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
