Ryan Murphy’s ‘American Love Story’ Casts Grace Gummer & 2 More

EXCLUSIVE: Ryan Murphy’s new series American Love Story has expanded its cast with Grace Gummer (American Horror Story, The Newsroom), Sydney Lemmon (Helstrom, Succession), and Alessandro Nivola (The Brutalist, American Hustle), sources close to production tell Deadline.

In a series regular role, Gummer will portray Caroline Kennedy.

In recurring roles, Lemmon will portray Lauren Bessette, and Nivola will play Calvin Klein.

FX and 20th Television declined to comment.

American Love Story, the latest offshoot in FX/20th TV’s American Crime Story franchise, is a scripted anthology series of sweeping true love stories that captured the world’s attention.

They join Sarah Pidgeon, who will play Carolyn Bessette, Paul Kelly, as John F. Kennedy Jr., and Naomi Watts, as JFK Jr.’s mother, Jackie O.

In the first season, focused on JFK Jr. and Carolyn Bessette, what started as a beautiful union for the young couple, widely regarded as American royalty, began to fray under the stress of the relentless microscope and navel-gaze of tabloid media. The pressures of their careers and rumored family discord ended with their tragic deaths when his private plane crashed into the ocean on a hazy summer night off the coast of Massachusetts.

Bessette was a publicist for Calvin Klein when she met JFK Jr. in 1992. The series will also prominently feature JFK Jr.’s mother, Jackie O, and sister Caroline.

American Love Story is executive produced by Ryan Murphy, Brad Simpson, Nina Jacobson, D.V. DiVencentis and Connor Hines.

Gummer will next be seen in Scott Cooper’s feature Deliver Me From Nowhere for 20th Century Fox. Among her TV credits are Mr. Robot for USA Network, Peacock’s limited series Dr. Death, A Teacher for FX / Hulu, and Showtime’s Let The Right One In. She is perhaps best known for her roles in HBO’s The Newsroom and FX’s American Horror Story over several seasons, most recently American Horror Story: Delicate, and HBO’s Confirmation. Gummer is repped by CAA and Anonymous Content.

Lemmon’s credits include Hulu and Marvel’s Helstrom, HBO’s Succession, and the Academy Award-nominated film Tár. Lemmon can also be seen in films like Dan Gilroy’s Velvet Buzzsaw and Blumhouse’s Firestarter, as well as AMC’s series Fear the Walking Dead, in which her performance was nominated for a Saturn Award. She made her Broadway debut in 2018 in Beau Willimon’s The Parisian Woman, starring Uma Thurman. Next, she stars in Kristofer Borgli’s upcoming film The Drama with Zendaya and Robert Pattinson. Lemmon is repped by Paradigm Talent Agency, Range Media Partners, and Jackoway Austen Tyerman Wertheimer.

Nivola is repped by UTA.