World premiere of “American Sports Story” on US cable channel FX

After “American Horror Story” and “American Crime Story”, the new series “American Sports Story” follows today on the US cable channel FX. It is about the tragic case of former professional football player Aaron Hernandez.

The new anthology series American Sports Story deals with the tragic case of former professional football player Aaron Hernandez. Once celebrated as a great talent in the United States, he ended up behind bars as a convicted serial killer. The episodes will be broadcast on FX and Hulu starting today, Tuesday, September 17th. The international release date is yet to be announced – with Disney+ as a hot contender for the streaming rights. The season consists of ten episodes and is the next collaboration between FX and the streaming service Hulu after American Horror Story, American Crime Story and American Horror Stories. The producer of the true crime drama is Ryan Murphy.

Aaron Hernandez, played by Josh Rivera (“The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes”), is an aspiring football star whose bright future is threatened by his uncontrollable anger. “You have no idea what’s going through my mind,” he says thoughtfully. “It’s like there’s a demon inside me.” His extraordinary skills on the field led him to the Florida Gators in college and later to the New England Patriots in the NFL. But with success come new challenges. “Now that you’re in the spotlight, everyone’s watching you,” his father warns him. “You can’t make a mistake, Aaron.”

Despite this warning, Aaron gets deeper and deeper into the criminal underworld. When someone taunts him and calls him “soft,” he pulls out a gun and asks provocatively, “Am I soft now?” We see him destroying things in his anger and slipping into drug use, but he calms himself down: “As long as I play football, everything’s fine.” But when he finally points the gun at the wrong person, he ends up being led away in handcuffs by the police.

The first season of American Sports Story is based on the podcast “Gladiator: Aaron Hernandez and Football Inc.” The podcast explores the different facets of Hernandez’s life – his identity, his family, his career, his suicide and the legacy he left in both sports and American culture, according to the official description. Murphy serves as executive producer. The cast includes Patrick Schwarzenegger (known from Gen V), Florida quarterback Tim Tebow and Norbert Leo Butz (Justified: City Primeval) as well as Patriots head coach Bill Belichick.