Ryan Murphy’s ‘American Sports Story: Aaron Hernandez’ Trailer Transforms Josh Rivera Into a Tortured NFL Star
Brian Welk
Ryan Murphy has gone from American Horror to American Crime and now to American Sports. The story of New England Patriots tight end and convicted murderer Aaron Hernandez contains all three.
“American Sports Story: Aaron Hernandez” dramatizes the tortured journey of Hernandez, an NCAA and NFL star who three seasons into his professional football career was arrested, convicted of murder, and later found dead by suicide in his jail cell in 2017. He was 27.
Josh Rivera (“West Side Story,” “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes”) stars in the new FX series as Hernandez. The series follows Hernandez from his high school and college days up through his breakout stardom with the Patriots catching, passes from Tom Brady alongside Rob Gronkowski.
The trailer for “American Sports Story” depicts Hernandez as tortured and lost, questioning his thoughts and wondering “What if God made me this way?” It then shows him grappling with the pressures of his family, sex, drugs, and the violence surrounding him. The only place he feels comfortable is on the football field.
This is meant to be the first installment of “American Sports Story,” and the Aaron Hernandez chapter is based on the podcast from the Boston Globe and Wondery titled “Gladiator: Aaron Hernandez and Football Inc.” Murphy is an executive producer on the series alongside Stuart Zicherman, Nina Jacobson, Brad Simpson, Alexis Martin Woodall, Eric Kovtun, Scott Robertson, and Carl Franklin. The show was created by Stuart Zicherman.
Hernan Lopez and Marshall Lewy of Wondery also serve as executive producers alongside Linda Pizzuti Henry and Ira Napoliello of the Boston Globe. The series is produced by 20th Television.
Alongside Rivera is a cast that includes Patrick Schwarzenegger as Tim Tebow, Tammy Blanchard as Terri Hernandez, and Lindsay Mendez as Tanya Singleton. The series also has actors portraying everyone from Tom Brady, Gronk, Robert Kraft, Urban Meyer, and other NCAA/NFL icons.
The series premieres on FX on Hulu on September 17. Check out the first trailer below:
