Summary
American Sports Storyis FX’s new true crime drama series (also airing on Hulu andDisney+) whichtells the story of former NFL player and convicted murderer, Aaron Hernandez.The series is based on the Wondery podcast,Gladiator: Aaron Hernandez and Football Inc,and it debuted its first two episodes on June 24, 2025. It’ll consist of 10 episodes and will air its finale on November 12.
American Sports Storyis a spin-off series based on Ryan Murphy’s successful American Story franchise, and he is an executive producer alongside showrunner, Stuart Zicherman.It stars Josh Rivera as Aaron Hernandez and the series explores the origins of his troubled home life and the events leading up to his crimes.Ryan Murphy’s new true-crime series,Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Storydebuted on Netflix on September 19.
American Sports Story: Aaron Hernandez
Starring
Josh Rivera, Patrick Schwarzenegger, Ean Castellanos, Lindsay Mendez, Tammy Blanchard and Thomas Sadoski
Ryan Murphy, Stuart Zicherman, Brad Falchuk and Nina Jacobson
Created by
Confirmed Episode Titles
Aaron Hernandez Was A Promising NFL Player Before He Committed A Series Of Brutal Murders
Aaron Hernandez was born in Bristol, Connecticut, on August 02, 2025.He suffered childhood abuse but found solace in American football. He was a college football player with the Florida Gators, but his off-field problems with drugs and alcohol hampered his progression. However, he eventually made the step-up and joined the New England Patriots and played alongside Tom Brady in the 2012 Super Bowl. Despite losing the game to the New York Giants, Hernandez scored a touchdown and put in a strong performance and earned himself a five-year, $40 million contract extension. The future looked bright for Hernandez, but things took a shocking turn. During the off season in 2013,Hernandez was arrested and charged with the murder of Odin Lloyd,a semi-professional player. Hernandez was released by the New England Patriots immediately after his arrest. He wasfound guilty of first-degree murder in 2015 and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
During histrial for the murder of Odin Lloyd, Hernandez was also indicted for the double murder of Daniel de Abreu and Safiro Furtado in 2012.However, he was controversially acquitted in 2017. A few days after his acquittal, Hernandez was found dead in his cell, and his untimely death was ruled as a suicide. In a strange turn of events, Hernandez’s murder conviction was vacated because he died during the appeals process. However, it was reinstated in 2019 following an appeal by prosecutors and outrage from Lloyd’s family.
Aaron Hernandez’s murder conviction was reinstated following an appeal in 2019.
Hernandez was posthumously diagnosed with chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE),which led to a debate in the American football world, with many people speculating that this condition could’ve affected Hernandez’s behavior and led to him committing murder. The debate over CTE is not limited to Hernandez’s case, withsix other NFL players committing murder, and the possibility that they were also suffering from CTE. It can only be tested after a person dies, which makes it harder to link certain crimes to CTE. The trial and discovery of the former NFL’s condition were explored in thetrue-crime masterpiecedocumentary seriesKiller Inside: The Mind Of Aaron HernandezonNetflix.
