Nick Robinson & Laura Donnelly Tackle Boston Accents in ‘Kennedy’

When you hear a Boston accent on screen, you expect that unmistakable “ah” for “a” and the ever‑present dropped "r." It’s a sound that can feel both comforting and intimidating, especially for actors whose native tongues are far from the cobblestones of Cambridge. That’s the exact hurdle Nick Robinson and Laura Donnelly faced while preparing for the upcoming series Kennedy.

Robinson, best known for his turn‑to‑teen‑drama roots, admits he was initially nervous. “I grew up in the suburbs of Denver, so the idea of speaking like a Bostonian felt… alien,” he chuckles, a hint of self‑deprecation in his voice. To bridge that gap, he spent weeks in a cramped studio with a dialect coach who happened to be a former Boston barista. The coach didn’t just hand him a phonetic chart; he took Robinson on a literal walk through Boston’s South End, stopping at dim sum spots and fish markets so the actor could hear the accent in its natural habitat.

Laura Donnelly, on the other hand, brought a slightly different strategy. An Irish‑born performer who’s become a chameleon on stage and screen, she turned to listening to old Boston radio shows from the 1960s. “There’s a rhythm there that you can’t just mimic,” she explains, “it’s the cadence, the way the words dip and rise like the harbor tides.” She layered those recordings with the show’s scripts, reading aloud while subtly adjusting her inflection until the lines felt less like an imitation and more like a lived‑in reality.

The pair also discovered that Boston isn’t a monolith. There’s a distinct difference between a Southie lad’s growl and a Cambridge academic’s clipped tone. In Kennedy, Robinson’s character hails from Dorchester, bringing a grittier, street‑wise flavor, while Donnelly’s role as a law‑school graduate from Brookline demands a cleaner, almost polished delivery. This contrast became a storytelling tool, highlighting class and cultural divides that the series explores.

Beyond the vocal work, both actors found the accent acted as an emotional shortcut. When Robinson dropped an “r” at the end of a sentence, the audience instantly sensed his character’s guardedness. When Donnelly softened her “a” to an “ah,” it hinted at vulnerability hidden beneath her polished exterior. “The accent became another layer of the character’s armor,” says the show’s director, who watched the actors’ evolution with a mix of admiration and awe.

It wasn’t all smooth sailing, though. During one early rehearsal, Robinson accidentally slipped into a Boston‑ish “wicked” while delivering a line meant for a more subdued scene, causing an unintentional laugh from the crew. The moment reminded everyone that mastering a dialect is as much about timing as it is about tone. The team laughed, corrected, and moved on—just another day on set.

Now, as the cameras wrap and post‑production rolls, both actors feel a newfound connection to the city. “I’m still hearing the echo of the T in my head,” Robinson jokes, “but it’s a good kind of echo.” Donnelly adds, “Boston’s not just an accent for me now; it’s a piece of my character’s soul.” Audiences can look forward to hearing those nuances when Kennedy finally lands on streaming platforms later this year.