Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette Poised to Dominate the Emmys

If you follow TV awards season, you know the Limited Series race at the Emmys has become a right old scrum lately – streaming platforms everywhere, dozens of contenders, all fighting for that shiny statuette. This year, the money – quite literally – is on FX and Hulu's 'Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette'. If the name doesn’t ring a bell, it’s the fifth instalment in the never-ending American Story anthology, and, for better or worse, it’s drawing plenty of attention.

How It’s Shaping Up So Far

‘Love Story’ dropped back in February (12th, to be specific) on FX and the Hulu side of the platform, and since then it’s been sitting pretty at the top of the prediction charts for the Emmy’s Limited Series category. But the lead isn’t exactly commanding – if you believe the big prediction markets, it’s currently neck and neck with a couple of other shows nipping at its heels.

• 'Love Story: John F. Kennedy and Carolyn Bessette' (FX) – 32%
• 'Beef' (Netflix) – 27%
• 'Half Man' (HBO Max) – 20%
• 'Lord of the Flies' (Netflix) – 9%
• 'DTF St. Louis' (HBO Max) – 8%
• 'The Beast in Me' (Netflix) – 7%
• 'Death by Lightning' (Netflix) – 6%
• 'All Her Fault' (Peacock) – 5%
• 'Bait' (Prime Video) – 4%
• 'Black Rabbit' (Netflix) – Less than 1%

(The percentages are based on trading values from Kalshi, not actual vote shares, but they’re a decent pulse check, given how quickly the odds shift.)

The Betting Race: A Quick Play-by-Play

If you’re wondering how ‘Love Story’ edged ahead, here’s the quick timeline: mid-April, the race started and it wasn’t ‘Love Story’ at number one – it was the second season of Netflix’s ‘Beef’. Then, for one hot minute in April, ‘Half Man’ from HBO Max shot to the top. Only on 6th May did FX’s biopic finally grab first place, where it’s largely stayed. Still, gaps are narrow and if you’re cynical about prediction markets, you’ll know a lot can change before voting even kicks off on 11th June, with the proper Emmy nominations dropping on 8th July.

History Lessons, Anyone?

The Emmys in this category have been something of a Netflix lockout the past few years: Season one of ‘Beef’ picked up the trophy in 2023, followed by 'Baby Reindeer' and 'Adolescence' in 2024 and 2025. Variety, for what it’s worth, still reckons ‘Beef’ is the show to beat. They also name-checked ‘Monsters: The Ed Gein Story’, ‘Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen’, ‘Washington Black’, and ‘Imperfect Women’ as outside shots.

Why People Think ‘Love Story’ Could Win

Beyond the real-life drama, there’s proper ratings news: in March, FX said the series set records on Hulu and Disney+ with well over 25 million hours watched. They’re also claiming numbers kept growing week to week after the initial launch – a rarity these days when most shows sink like a stone after the first drop.

Reception: Lots of Star Power, Not All Happy Faces

Rotten Tomatoes verdict? Critics gave ‘Love Story’ a solid 81% rating. Regular punters and home viewers: 65%, so a bit more mixed from the audience.

If you want the drama behind the drama, it gets juicy. Jack Schlossberg (who, if you missed the Kennedy tree, is JFK Jr.’s nephew) absolutely laid into Ryan Murphy’s take on the whole affair in a CBS Sunday Morning interview. Schlossberg wasn’t exactly chuffed about how his late uncle and Carolyn Bessette were portrayed. And if you think that’s awkward, Daryl Hannah (who actually appears as a character in the show) told The New York Times that 'Love Story' was 'tragedy-exploiting' and made her look, in her words, 'irritating, self-absorbed, whiny, and inappropriate – not even a remotely accurate representation of my life, my conduct, or my relationship with John.'

What’s Next?

Creator Connor Hines let slip that if the series keeps running, the next season is likely to focus on the infamously unruly romantic saga of Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton.