Love Story is the fifth installment in the American Story media franchise and was originally announced in August 2021 under the title American Love Story, covering the courtship and marriage of John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy through their deaths in a 1999 plane crash.

In June 2025, Jack Schlossberg, John F. Kennedy Jr.'s nephew, publicly criticized the series for not consulting the Kennedy family during development and accused the production of profiting off his uncle's life in a 'grotesque way,' urging creators to donate proceeds to the John F. Kennedy Library; Ryan Murphy later stated he intended to make a donation.

The dispute escalated in July 2025 when Ryan Murphy called it an 'odd choice to be mad about your relative that you don't remember,' prompting Jack Schlossberg to share personal memories of his uncle on Instagram and reiterate his criticism of the show.

Paul Anthony Kelly, who leads the series as John F. Kennedy Jr., was a newcomer at the time of his casting in May 2025.

On June 13, 2025, Ryan Murphy shared a first look at Paul Kelly and Sarah Pidgeon as John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette on his Instagram, the same day announcing that Leila George and Noah Fearnley had joined as Kelly Klein and Michael Bergin.

Since John F. Kennedy Jr. actually lived at 20 North Moore Street in Tribeca, the production filmed many exterior shots around that real address, as well as at the historic 53–55 Beach Street and throughout Tribeca and Soho.

Scenes set at Cape Cod were actually filmed in Bellport, Long Island.

The series' first five episodes accumulated more than 25 million hours of viewing across Hulu and Disney+, making it FX's most-watched limited series in network history on both platforms; the series later surpassed 65 million hours streamed, with the season finale becoming a series high, up nearly 20% from the prior episode and about 90% above the premiere.

Following the premiere, searches for John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy reportedly increased by more than 9,100% within a month, and the hashtag #lovestory generated more than 21 million posts globally on TikTok.

In March 2026, actress Daryl Hannah, who is depicted as a character in the series, wrote a guest essay in The New York Times criticizing her portrayal as inaccurate, denying she hosted cocaine-fueled parties, pressured John F. Kennedy Jr. into marriage, or planted stories in the press as the show depicted.