‘Welcome to Wrexham’ Season 2 Shows Welsh Squad’s Winning Ways
Ryan Reynolds, Rob McElhenney have turned lowly soccer team into a winner
Season two of docuseries Welcome to Wrexham starts on FX Tuesday, September 12, and episodes stream the next day on Hulu. The show is about the Welsh soccer team Wrexham, which is owned by American actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney.
The long-struggling squad, representing a working-class city in Wales, has been mired in the lower levels of U.K. soccer for several years. Season one saw Reynolds and McElhenney spend substantially to improve the field and stadium, and the team itself, in terms of standout players and a veteran manager. Improvement on the pitch happened as the season wound down, with the team making the playoffs. But Wrexham remained in the National League, the fifth tier of English soccer, where it played for the past 15 years.
But Wrexham won the league in April, and its victorious run will be depicted in season two. The club moves up next season to League Two of the English Football League.
Wrexham is currently touring the U.S., facing off against both U.S. clubs and premiere English teams. Wrexham plays Manchester United in San Diego July 26 and Philadelphia Union II outside Philadelphia July 29.
Reynolds and McElhenney acquired the Wrexham club in 2020. Reynolds’s film credits include Deadpool and Pokemon: Detective Pikachu. McElhenney plays Mac on It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.
“From Hollywood to Wales, from the pitch to the locker room, the front office to the pub, Welcome to Wrexham follows Rob and Ryan’s stewardship and the inextricably connected fates of a team and a town in the midst of history in the making,” FX said.
Welcome to Wrexham got six Emmy nominations, including Outstanding Unstructured Reality Series.
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The show is executive produced by McElhenney, Reynolds, Josh Drisko, Bryan Rowland, Jeff Luini, Nick Frenkel, George Dewey and Boardwalk Pictures’ Andrew Fried, Alan Bloom, Dane Lillegard, Sarina Roma and Jordan Wynn. It is produced by Boardwalk Pictures.
Michael Malone is content director at B+C and Multichannel News. He joined B+C in 2005 and has covered network programming, including entertainment, news and sports on broadcast, cable and streaming; and local broadcast television, including writing the "Local News Close-Up" market profiles. He also hosted the podcasts "Busted Pilot" and "Series Business." His journalism has also appeared in The New York Times, The L.A. Times, The Boston Globe and New York magazine.