Josh Rivera filled and brought Aaron Hernandez to life for American sports history.
Rivera, 29, plays the late NFL player in Robert F. KennedyThe upcoming miniseries of “The 40 Years of the Year” is set to premiere on FX on September 17. Almost a month before the show’s first episode is scheduled to air, fans got a first taste of what to expect – and it’s going to be exciting.
“You don’t know what thoughts I have. It’s like a demon,” Rivera said when Hernandez appeared in the American sports history Trailer released Wednesday, August 14. “What if God made me like this?”
The series follows Hernandez’s football career as a tight end with the Florida Gators of the University of Florida through his time in the NFL with the New England Patriots from 2010 to 2013. His personal life, his prison sentence and his later death are also covered in the series.
Rivera went to the gym before shooting on the football field for the show and was completely tattooed (presumably with fake ink), completing his transformation into Hernandez.
Josh Rivera as Aaron Hernandez in American Sports Story
EffectsTogether with Rivera American sports history will play the main role Patrick Schwarzenegger (Tim Tebow), Lindsay Mendez (Tanya Singleton), Tony Yazbeck (Urban Meyer), Thomas Sadoski (Brian Murphy) and Norbert Leo Butz (Bill Belichick) and others.
“Nobody is questioning your athletic ability, Aaron, they’re questioning your character,” Sadoski said as Murphy in the trailer.
The limited series, announced late last year, was based on the 2018 Boston Globe and Wondery podcast titled “Gladiator: Aaron Hernandez and Football Inc.”
Rachel Zegler and Josh Andrés Rivera first met on the set of Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story, where they quickly began a real romance. The couple confirmed their relationship in February 2021, almost a year before West Side Story hit theaters. “I love Josh Andres Rivera,” the Snow White star captioned a series (…)
Hernandez was charged with murder Odin Lloyd in June 2013, in the middle of his NFL career, and was convicted two years later. In April 2015, he was found guilty of premeditated murder. Hernandez was subsequently charged with the double murder of Daniel de Abreu And Safiro Furtado but was acquitted in April 2017. Days after his acquittal, Hernandez was found dead in his prison cell next to his bedsheets. He was 27 years old at the time of his death, which has since been ruled a suicide.
Aaron Hernandez is led into the courtroom of Attleboro District Court
Jared Wickerham/Getty ImagesRivera’s casting as Hernandez was announced in November 2023.
“It’s a story with a lot of factors, as I’m sure anyone familiar with it knows. There’s the mental health factor, the crime factor, the money, the fame, all of those things,” the former West Side Story star told Deadline after the casting news was announced. “As an actor, it’s kind of a dream to have something so exciting to immerse yourself in.”
