‘Welcome to Wrexham’ Season 2 Is About Raising Expectations for the Red Dragons
Spoilers are hard to avoid for the second round of Welcome to Wrexham, the engaging FX series about the fate of a historic football club in northern Wales purchased by Hollywood stars Ryan Reynolds (of the Deadpool franchise) and Rob McElhenney (It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia).
While famously losing a couple of key games that ended Season 1, the Red Dragons thrillingly won promotion back to the English Football League in April after a 15-year drought — the perfect capper for these new episodes.
(Credit: Getty Images)
“Anyone who’s been following the Wrexham story will have seen that we got promoted,” says Humphrey Ker, the McElhenney-Reynolds pal who serves as the club’s executive director. (The comic actor also occasionally appears as Tall Paul opposite McElhenney on Apple TV+’s Mythic Quest.) “I think a big theme that will be stressed will be the challenge we faced in terms of expectations. We came very, very close in Season 1. In Season 2, we get one step further.”
Viewers can also expect updates on favorite characters from the stands. “One thing people liked about the first series was that it wasn’t just the football; it was the people, the fans in Wrexham,” Ker says. Audiences loved opinionated Annette Gardner, a supporter for 40-plus years who leaned on her “football family” after her husband’s death.
Other stories play out on the pitch, from the building of the women’s team to a certain December visit from King Charles III and the queen consort — “a great sign of the progress we’ve made over the last couple of years.”
By now there’s little town skepticism about Wrexham’s star takeover, he says. “As time went on, what most people saw in the first season was two people really falling in love with football. They are in this for the long haul.”
FX’s Welcome to Wrexham, Season 2 Premiere, Wednesday, September 13, Hulu
This is an excerpt from TV Insider‘s September issue. For more in-depth, reported coverage devoted to streaming shows from the publishers of TV Guide Magazine, pick up the issue, currently on newsstands, or purchase it online here. You can also subscribe to TV Insider Magazine here now.
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