FX’s new addition to Ryan Murphy’s American Story franchise, American Sports Story: Aaron Hernandez, is set to premiere. This 10-episode limited series delves into the real-life rise and fall of the disgraced former New England Patriots player Aaron Hernandez.
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| Former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez. Keith Bedford/The Boston Globe/Getty Images |
Starring Josh Andrés Rivera as Hernandez, the show is inspired by The Boston Globe and Wondery podcast Gladiator: Aaron Hernandez and Football Inc. The podcast examined Hernandez’s life and career, his arrest, his subsequent conviction for murder, and his suicide in a Massachusetts maximum-security prison.
In June 2013, authorities found the body of Odin Lloyd, a semi-professional football player who was dating the sister of Hernandez’s fiancée, Shayanna Jenkins, about a mile from Hernandez’s home. Just nine days later, Hernandez was arrested on a murder charge related to Lloyd’s death at his North Attleborough, Massachusetts mansion and was taken into custody in handcuffs.
Hernandez was released by the Patriots shortly after. He pleaded not guilty to the charges but was convicted of first-degree murder in 2015.
In May 2014, nearly a year after his arrest for Lloyd’s murder, Hernandez faced indictment on two counts of first-degree murder, along with additional charges, in connection with the 2012 shootings of Daniel de Abreu and Safiro Furtado.
According to the Associated Press, de Abreu and Furtado were killed in their car at a red light in Boston’s South End. The AP reported that prosecutors claimed Hernandez was enraged after de Abreu accidentally bumped into him at a nightclub, spilling his drink. Hernandez’s lawyers maintained his innocence. He was acquitted of the murders of de Abreu and Furtado on April 14, 2017.
Just days after his acquittal, on April 19, 2017, Hernandez was found hanging by a bed sheet in his cell at Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center, a maximum-security prison in Leominster, Massachusetts. He was later pronounced dead at a nearby hospital. The Boston Globe reported that Hernandez and another inmate had been smoking K2, a drug that resembles marijuana but is more toxic and can cause hallucinations and is difficult to detect in drug tests.
Hernandez, who played football for the University of Florida, was drafted by the New England Patriots in 2010. As a former tight end, he was reportedly a person of concern in the locker room. The Boston Globe reported that former NFL player Wes Welker warned former Patriots receiver Brandon Lloyd about Hernandez’s behavior.
Lloyd recounted to the Gladiator podcast, “He is looking at me wide-eyed, and he says, ‘I just want to warn you that [Hernandez] is going to talk about being bathed by his mother. He’s going to have his genitalia out in front of you while you’re sitting on your stool. He’s going to talk about gay sex. Just do your best to ignore it. Even walk away.’”
The podcast that inspired American Sports Story: Aaron Hernandez explores various aspects of Hernandez’s life, including his childhood, the abuse he and his brother allegedly suffered, his struggles with sexuality, and symptoms of CTE.
The series will portray the rise and fall of the former Patriots tight end, examining the various facets of his identity, his family, his career, his suicide, and their impact on sports and American culture.
American Sports Story expands Murphy’s American Story anthology franchise, which includes American Horror Story with its 12 seasons, American Crime Story with its three seasons, American Horror Stories, and the upcoming spinoff American Love Story, focusing on John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette’s courtship and marriage. A potential fourth season of American Crime Story, titled Studio 54, is in development.
American Sports Story will revisit a major sports-related event through the lens of contemporary society, presenting the story from multiple viewpoints. This season’s script is penned by Stu Zicherman (The Americans), who serves as an executive producer alongside Murphy, Brad Falchuk, Nina Jacobson, Brad Simpson, Alexis Martin Woodall, Wondery’s Hernan Lopez and Marshall Lewy, and The Boston Globe’s Linda Pizutti Henry and Ira Napoliello.