Ryan Murphy’s American Sports Story Is A Touchdown On Hulu

By Britta DeVore | Published

Ryan Murphy has long been bringing audiences tales of horror – both fictional and factual – but always with plenty of drama. September has been a big month for the producer and creative as, along with taking over Netflix’s charts thanks to Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, he’s also seeing success with another production on Hulu. Right now, audiences are flocking to the streamer to check out Murphy’s latest venture as an executive producer in American Sports Story: Aaron Hernandez

Aaron Hernandez Was A Convicted Murderer

While football fans will definitely recognize the main character’s name, there’s another group of folks out there who will undoubtedly know the subject of the first American Sports Story installment – true crime lovers. Along with being a talented tight end who worked his way up from high school to college ball and into the NFL as part of the New England Patriots, Hernandez also had an incredibly dark side that he kept tucked away from the rest of the world.

His off-field activities would eventually land Hernandez behind bars after he was convicted of the murder of his fiancee’s sister’s boyfriend, Odin Lloyd. 

Takes You Back To Where It All began

Doing a deep dive into the life, upbringing, and formative years of the sports superstar’s life, American Sports Story: Aaron Hernandez takes audiences back to where it all began – when he was a boy growing up in Connecticut. From early traumas with his family to his first run-ins with the law as a college student playing ball for famed coach Urban Meyer at the University of Florida, the miniseries walks audiences through it all. 

Keeping A Big Secret?

One piece of the puzzle that American Sports Story really leans into – in an almost detrimental way – is that of Aaron Hernandez’s rumored homosexuality. In the years since he took his life from behind prison bars, Hernandez’s sexuality has taken center stage, with many – including his mother – stepping forward to claim that the footballer was living in the closet. However, because Hernandez never confirmed these suspicions while alive, we’re still left in the dark about that part of his life.

Facts Stranger Than Fiction

When it comes to American Sports Story, the series moves forward under the assumption that Aaron Hernandez felt immense amounts of shame about his sexuality, which led him to commit not just the murder of Odin Lloyd but other alleged crimes and played into his intense anger issues. The show pushes this idea throughout each episode, weaving a story that sees Aaron as never fully coming to peace with who he was until the day that he took his life.

Aside from the rumors about his sexuality, American Sports Story largely sticks to the facts and, as anyone familiar with the case will already know, the facts are stranger than fiction in this story. A few years back, Netflix put out a documentary titled Killer Inside: The Mind of Aaron Hernandez, which is a terrific follow-up to the dramatized Hulu series as it really digs into the events as we know them to be. 

The Season Of Ryan Murphy

As we mentioned at the top, it’s a very solid month for Ryan Murphy fans as, along with Hulu’s American Sports Story, audiences can also head to Netflix for Season 2 of the critically acclaimed anthology series, Monster. For those who find themselves more into Murphy’s fictional scripted fare like American Horror Story, his latest project with Emmy Award-winner Niecy Nash-Betts, Grotesquerie, recently celebrated its arrival on Hulu.