Deadpool star Ryan Reynolds and It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia creator Rob McElhenney had soccer fans all over the world scratching their heads, after it was announced that the two actors/producers/businessmen were buying their own “Futbol Club.” The Wrexham AFC team was one of the older clubs around, but it’s name has definitely NOT been more famous than it has become now, thanks to Reynolds, McElhenney and Welcome to Wrexham, their successful docu-series about re-building the team (and the town that supports it), which ran on FX and Hulu earlier in the fall.
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Have you considered #QuietQuitting today? pic.twitter.com/TseG2yS7gN
— Ryan Reynolds (@VancityReynolds) October 18, 2022
Now, in a new update following the season finale of Welcome to Wrexham, Ryand Reynolds and Rob McElhenny have made the following big announcements about the series:
- Welcome to Wrexham Season 2 is officially happening.
- All Episodes of Welcome to Wrexham Season 1 are now streaming on Hulu.
- Wrexham AFC’s games are being featured on ESPN 2 – starting today! (At the time of writing this)
As McElhenney states in a video post, Welcome to Wrexham was nominated for two Critics Choice Awards, and holds an impressive fresh score on Rotten Tomatoes. More than that, though, the real-life purchase of the team and the docu-series about it have both been met with serious scrutiny – particularly by soccer fans in the UK, where the sport, its team, and the entire FiFa culture are like a religion for so many fans, communities, and (obviously) entire towns at times.
While no one is totally above criticism, Reynolds and McElhenney have seemingly proven themselves in the court of public opinion when it comes to Welcome to Wrexham: the series was unabashed in revealing the two celebrities’ inexperience in the venture, and it chronicled just how much actual caring for the town and its people that they developed by making actual connections with the real people that live and breathe Wrexham soccer. McElhenney was particularly good at bridging UK soccer culture with the die-hard sport culture of his Philadelphia hometown, and their devotion to the (currently undefeated!) Eagles NFL team.
That’s all to say: Welcome to Wrexham managed to appease longtime soccer fans all over the world, and intrigue American audiences who never really got into the sport or its culture. It’s another branding win for Ryan Reynolds, another successful show for Rob McElhenney, and a continuing story that actually has the potential for some real-world magic.
Welcome to Wrexham is streaming on FX on Hulu.
