Back in 2021, Disney’s FX announced that it had signed a deal for two new “American Story” spinoff limited series “, American Sports Story” and “American Love Story”, that are going to be created by producers Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk, Nina Jacobson and Brad Simpson. 

“American Sports Story” is a scripted anthological limited series focusing on a prominent event involving a sports figure and re-examines it through the prism of today’s world, telling that story from multiple perspectives.

The first instalment of American Sports Story is based on the podcast Gladiator: Aaron Hernandez and Football Inc from the Boston Globe and Wondery. The limited series charts the rise and fall of NFL superstar Aaron Hernandez and explores the connections of the disparate strands of his identity, his family, his career, his suicide, and their legacy in sports and American culture.

At the start of this year at the Television Critics Association press event, FX chairman John Landgraf revealed that they had a fairly complete set of scripts by Stu Zicherman, who has previously worked on another FX series, “The Americans”.  However, with the ongoing actor and writer strikes, production hasn’t been able to begin on the series.

However, there has been an update on this series by Deadline, who have confirmed that Josh Andrés Rivera will be playing the role of Aaron Hernandez and Patrick Schwarzenegger will be playing the role of former NFL star Tim Tebow.    Both of these castings were made in early 2023, before the actor’s strike began, but have only now been revealed.

Josh Andrés Rivera has previously starred in the 20th Century Studios film, “West Side Story” and the upcoming film, “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes”.

Patrick Schwarzenegger is a son of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver. Patrick has previously starred in Ryan Murphy’s other FX series, “Scream Queens” and most recently, stars in the “The Boys” spinoff series, “Gen V”.

“American Sports Story”  Stu Zicherman (The Americans) is the writer and Executive Producer, and Ryan Murphy, Nina Jacobson, Brad Simpson, Alexis Martin Woodall and Brad Falchuk are Executive Producers. Hernan Lopez and Marshall Lewy of Wondery (Dr. Death) are Executive Producers alongside Executive Producers Linda Pizutti Henry and Ira Napoliello of The Boston Globe.

This new series will follow on from the successfill “American Horror Story”, “American Crime Story”, and “American Horror Stories” series, which are available to stream now on Hulu in the United States and on Disney+ in many countries around the world including the UK, Canada and Australia.

Are you looking forward to watching “American Sports Story”?  Let us know on social media!

Roger Palmer

Roger has been a Disney fan since he was a kid and this interest has grown over the years. He has visited Disney Parks around the globe and has a vast collection of Disney movies and collectibles. He is the owner of What's On Disney Plus & DisKingdom. Email: Roger@WhatsOnDisneyPlus.com Twitter: Twitter.com/RogPalmerUK Facebook: Facebook.com/rogpalmeruk

View all posts