In 2013, New England Patriots team member Aaron Hernandez was arrested for — and in 2015 convicted of — the murder of football player Odin Lloyd, only to be found dead in prison from an apparent suicide in 2017. It was a tragic story that brought to light elements of past abuse, physical injury from the game itself, and the uncaring attitudes visited on troubled professional sports figures. His story will become the first season of a new sports anthology series called “American Sports Story” — the fourth iteration of the “American Story” franchise — and whose multiple producers will include Ryan Murphy. The title of this season will be “Gladiator: American Sports Story” and the cast features Josh Andrés Rivera (Chino in Steven Spielberg’s “West Side Story”) as Hernandez, alongside Tony Award winner Lindsay Mendez (currently co-starring in the Broadway revival of “Merrily We Roll Along”), and Patrick Schwarzenegger as football star Tim Tebow. Shooting’s been interrupted by the SAG-AFTRA strike but will roll again as soon as possible.
