Just over a month after Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette aired its finale, the cast and creatives are opening up about the decisions behind that heartbreaking ending.
On Wednesday night, stars of the hit FX series — which chronicles the tragic romance between America’s Prince and the former Calvin Klein publicist who died in a plane crash in 1999 — including Sarah Pidgeon (Carolyn Bessette), Paul Anthony Kelly (John F. Kennedy Jr.), Naomi Watts (Jackie Kennedy Onassis), Grace Gummer (Caroline Kennedy), Constance Zimmer (Ann Marie Messina), Alessandro Nivola (Calvin Klein), showrunner Connor Hines and executive producer Brad Simpson gathered at Metrograph for a screening and live conversation. During the event, they revisited clips from throughout the season and reflected on the making of the series.
One of the final clips shown featured John and Carolyn re-creating their first date at Panna II Garden Indian Restaurant in Manhattan’s East Village — one of several moments in the finale that depicted the couple trying to recapture the passion and excitement of their early relationship before it was strained by relentless media scrutiny.
Despite years of mixed reports about whether John and Carolyn were planning to separate before their deaths, Hines explained why it was important for him to choose a more hopeful ending for their story.
“We felt like, ‘Well, then this is a privilege for the writers to take some creative license and to choose hope — to choose hope for our rendering of the story, to choose hope for our audience and to choose hope for John and Carolyn,’” he said, while holding back tears. “We also needed to be practical that there was a lot they would have to work through, and it was going to be a lot of work. But where we landed as a room, with Brad and Nina [Jacobson], was let’s choose to say that neither of them are ready to walk away. Let’s choose to believe that they both still have fight left in them for this relationship and that’s the decision that we made. I think ultimately, it was the right one.”
Pidgeon also spoke about the emotional weight of filming the finale.
“In this scene, they’re both reaching out. They’re making the brave decision to reach out to each other, but not really knowing who that person will be on the other side,” she said. “In episode one, they’re essentially strangers with a connection, and I think in episode nine, they’re really hoping this is a bridge that they can take. They believe in their marriage. They’re not totally sure where they’ll end up on the other side, but they’re willing to make that leap.”
She added that, as an actor, the episode was “quite difficult.”
“As Sarah, there’s a finality. There are loose ends and story points and themes you’re trying to hit and make sense of for the audience. But for Carolyn and John, while there was obviously a sense of finality, their story was so interrupted. So how do you sort of approach these scenes while these characters are very much still in the middle of their lives? That was always in the back of my head.”
Kelly echoed Pidgeon’s perspective, saying he appreciated revisiting the beginnings of John and Carolyn’s relationship.
“To still have that hope — these two individuals still have this love for each other, and they’re fighting for it. They’re reaching for it, still unaware of what’s on the other side, but willing to take that risk,” he said. “I think it’s a really beautiful thing.”
Earlier in the evening, the panel also revisited memorable moments from across the season, including a scene from episode three between Jackie and John, in which Jackie throws letters into the fireplace because she doesn’t want them memorialized while reflecting on her marriage to President John F. Kennedy and urging her son to stay close to those who love him.
“Ryan [Murphy] has changed my life in the latter part of my career anyway,” Watts said. “Just like David Lynch did in the beginning of my career, and that’s not lost on me. I also feel an immense gratitude for the material he’s given me, for this collaboration, this trust, his belief in me to do something that seemed like an absurd idea to me.”
She added, “I don’t look like Jackie Kennedy, I’m not American. I mean, I was totally confused by the offer in the beginning. I was like, ‘Well, 12 people must have turned this down. Why are you coming to me? I’m the least likely.’”
Watts also revealed that she was persuaded to postpone her honeymoon with husband Billy Crudup, whom she married in 2023, to film the series.
“I was unavailable, technically,” she admitted. “I had worked back-to-back, and then I was trying to take a honeymoon with my husband, which we’d put off from the year before.”
But after some persuasion, she realized she couldn’t pass up the opportunity.
“Ryan calls, and he just seduces you in a way that makes it feel so possible suddenly,” she said.
All episodes of Love Story are streaming on Disney+ and Hulu. Check out all of The Hollywood Reporter‘s Love Story coverage here.
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