“I wanted to make a documentary that was not about football so that anybody could sit down and watch it and enjoy it. And I wanted to make it about working class people and their love for sport, but really their love for community.”
That was Rob McElhenney’s goal when he created the docuseries, Welcome to Wrexham which premieres August 24th on FX. We got a sneak peek at the first episode and can confidently say, goal achieved.
By the way, he calls it football because he “doesn’t want to get stabbed.”
The series takes an in-depth look at the ownership journey that Rob and Ryan Reynolds have embarked on with Wrexham A.F.C. Cameras catch every moment from the ZOOM meeting where the two Hollywood stars were visibly nervous pitching the fans to let them buy the team to… well, no one knows the ending… it hasn’t happened yet.
When we mentioned that the docuseries is like real life Ted Lasso, Rob laughed. It wasn’t at the comparison though. Jason Sudeikis, who plays Ted, joined Rob and Ryan for a game a Wembley earlier this season. The parallels between the two shows are bountiful but Jason smugly pointed out that he knows how his will end each season. These guys are leaving their entire series to fate. D’oh!
It’s all well and cool that the press reviews of Welcome to Wrexham are all glowing, but how are the fans receiving it? “We did a bunch of screenings for the people of the town and it went over really well. There were so many laughs and tears. We really wanted to get it right for them.”