''American Sports Story'' is an upcoming American sportanthology series developed by Stu Zicherman, who will also executive produce alongside Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk, Nina Jacobson, Brad Simpson, Alexis Martin Woodall, Eric Kovtun, Hernan Lopez, Marshall Lewy, Linda Pizutti Henry, and Ira Napoliello. The series will serve as the fourth installment in the '' American Story'' media franchise, and will be broadcast on the cable network FX.
The first season, titled ''American Sports Story: Aaron Hernandez'', will focus on the rise and fall of former NFL player Aaron Hernandez, and is set to premiere on September 17, 2024.
Cast
*
Josh Andrés Rivera
Josh Andrés Rivera is an American actor. He is best known for starring as Chino in Steven Spielberg's 2021 remake of '' West Side Story'' and as Sejanus Plinth in '' The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes''.
Early life
Rivera i ...
Tammy Blanchard
Tammy Blanchard (born December 14, 1976) is an American actress. She rose to prominence for her role as teenage Judy Garland in the critically acclaimed television film '' Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows'' (2001), for which she received ...
as Terri Hernandez
* Ean Castellanos as DJ Hernandez
* Thomas Sadoski as Brian Murphy
*
Norbert Leo Butz
Norbert Leo Butz (born January 30, 1967) is an American actor and singer. He is best known for his work in Broadway theatre. He is a two-time winner of the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical, and is one of only nine actors ever to have won the ...
as Bill Belichick
* Kwadarrius Smith as Gameday Deion Branch
* Casey Sullivan as
Sam Bradford
Samuel Jacob Bradford (born November 8, 1987) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for nine seasons, most notably with the St. Louis Rams and Minnesota Vikings. He was also a member of the P ...
Episodes
There are set to be ten episodes in the first season.
Production
Development
On August 13, 2021, it was announced that FX had ordered a new spin-off limited series ''American Sports Story''. The series is based on the podcast, ''Gladiator: Aaron Hernandez and Football Inc.'' from '' The Boston Globe'' and
Wondery
Wondery is an American podcast network and publisher of numerous award-winning podcasts, including Dirty John, Dr. Death, and The Shrink Next Door. Wondery was founded in 2016 by entrepreneur and media executive Hernan Lopez. The company was lau ...
, will focus on the rise and fall of former NFL player Aaron Hernandez. Specifically, the series will explore the disparate strands of Hernandez's identity, his family, his career, his suicide and their legacy in sports and American culture, and will be titled ''American Sports Story: Aaron Hernandez''.
Casting
By January 2023,
John Landgraf
John Phillip Landgraf (born May 20, 1962) is the Chairman of FX Networks. He is also a member of
the Peabody Awards board of directors, which is presented by the University of Georgia's Henry W. Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication. ...
stated that the series was "heading toward production" as there was a "fairly complete set of scripts" from Stu Zicherman, although no premiere date was set. In November 2023, it was reported that
Josh Andrés Rivera
Josh Andrés Rivera is an American actor. He is best known for starring as Chino in Steven Spielberg's 2021 remake of '' West Side Story'' and as Sejanus Plinth in '' The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes''.
Early life
Rivera i ...
Jersey City, New Jersey
Jersey City is the second-most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, after Newark. Filming was suspended in July due to the
2023 SAG-AFTRA strike
From July 14 to November 9, 2023, the American actors' union SAG-AFTRA (Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists) was on strike over a labor dispute with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producer ...
, and resumed in December. Filming continued further in March 2024 in Orlando Florida at Camping World Stadium.
Release
''American Sports Story'' is scheduled to debut its first two episodes on FX on September 17, 2024.