Netflix’s Killer Inside: The Mind of Aaron Hernandez is the perfect series to watch before American Sports Story. American Sports Story will become the first series to tackle the true-crime story of Aaron Hernandez and the murder of Odin Lloyd in a dramatized format. Executive produced by Ryan Murphy, American Sports Story season 1 will span 10 episodes with new weekly episodes released every Tuesday from September 17 until November 12, 2024. The series is set up as an anthology similar to American Horror Story, with each season chronicling a different real-life narrative from the world of professional sports.

Created by Stuart Zicherman (The Americans, The Affair, Alaska Daily), American Sports Story re-examines one of the most chilling off-the-field true stories in the history of the National Football League. Josh Andrés Rivera leads the cast of American Sports Story as Aaron Hernandez. The series will also feature performances by Patrick Schwarzenegger as the Florida Gators’ Heisman-winning quarterback Tim Tebow, Norbert Leo Butz as 8-time Super Bowl Champion and former Patriots head coach Bill Belichick, Tony Yazbeck as the prolific NCAA and NFL head coach Urban Meyer, and Tammy Blanchard as Terri Hernandez, Aaron’s mother.

Killer Inside: The Mind Of Aaron Hernandez Is A Must-Watch Before American Sports Story

The 3+ hour docuseries provides a comprehensive and highly informative inside look

Before diving into the first two episodes of American Sports Story: Aaron Hernandez, Netflix’s comprehensive 2020 docuseries Killer Inside is a must-watch. Although the docuseries only earned a 68% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes based on just 19 reviews, the audience score is much higher at 81%, indicating that Killer Inside is not only revealing but also riveting, as most good true-crime stories are. Directed by Geno McDermott, who also helmed HBO’s 2021 docuseries Unseamly, Killer Inside is entirely based on facts, research, archive footage, legal testimony, never-before-seen interviews, and everything else you’d expect in a Netflix true-crime series.

With a total runtime of 3 hours and 21 minutes, the shocking Killer Inside: The Mind of Aaron Hernandez is the perfect way to refresh on the Aaron Hernandez story before watching American Sports Story. The docuseries features exclusive sit-down interviews with journalists and sports writers who covered the stunning news story as it unfolded, various legal prosecutors and sports psychologists, and former teammates and friends of Aaron Hernandez. It’s unclear how detailed American Sports Story will be in scenes that reenact Hernandez’s violent crimes. It’s also uncertain which themes of the true story will be focused on more than others. Killer Inside should provide a broader account of the situation given its documentary format.

Killer Inside Provides Additional Insight Into Aaron Hernandez’s Life & Relationships

Killer Inside offers a variety of perspectives and first-person accounts from people who knew Aaron

Killer Inside offers an unprecedented deep dive into the life and mind of Aaron Hernandez with archival footage and interviews. Nick Schager of The Daily Beast writes, “Through a wealth of trial footage, archival news broadcasts, new interviews and prison phone conversations, Killer Inside persuasively contends that Hernandez was the byproduct of a perfect storm of negative developments.” Brian Lowry of CNN writes, “The most illuminating wrinkle in “Killer Inside” involves having access to audio of phone calls Hernandez made from prison, providing modest insight about his post-arrest state of mind and relationships with those closest to him.”

While American Sports Story will chronicle the words, actions, and characters of the people most directly involved in Aaron Hernandez’s story, Killer Inside extends much further to offer a variety of perspectives and accounts on the matter. The biggest challenge American Sports Story faces is offering an authentic depiction of Aaron Hernandez living through the documented history that became public knowledge after his arrest and conviction for the murder of Odin Lloyd. For American Sports Story to be successful in its vision, it will have to utilize the wealth of information on display in Killer Inside to offer some kind of resolution or understanding, which some critics noted the Netflix docuseries failed to accomplish.

How Killer Inside Compares To American Sports Story: Aaron Hernandez

The Hulu/FX series will depict Aaron’s internal and legal battles in real time

Based on the trailer of American Sports Story, the series seems to be highlighting the negative influences surrounding Hernandez which contributes to his aggressive and violent behavior. The trailer paints Hernandez as a tragic figure fighting internal and potentially psychological battles that are exacerbated by celebrity trappings and bottled-up secrets, one of which pertains to his sexuality.

As dramatic content, the Hulu/FX series will likely heighten aspects of Hernandez’s character and story for entertainment value, while Killer Inside offers a more neutral rather than nuanced perspective on the complicated subject. The Boston Globe is co-producing the Hulu/FX series, which is a promising sign of its adherence to journalistic accuracy. FX’s recent true-story sports series Clipped kept most of its facts straight but did alter certain aspects, particularly in its portrayal of real-life players and personnel, which may also be a flaw of American Sports Story.

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American Sports Story Trailer

The new trailer has been released for the FX series American Sports story, which will tell the true crime story of football player Aaron Hernandez.