Getty Image
Josh Andrés Rivera, best known for his roles as Chino in Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story and Sejanus Plinth in the upcoming Hunger Games prequel The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, has been cast as disgraced late NFL tight end and convicted murderer Aaron Hernandez for an upcoming series on FX.
The series, titled American Sports Story: Gladiator, will be part of FX’s American Story series, which has featured both American Horror Story and American Crime Story.
American Crime Story, in particular, is relevant when it comes to this upcoming project as its first season tackled O.J. Simpson’s murder trial.
The first season is based on the podcast Gladiator: Aaron Hernandez and Football Inc. from the Boston Globe and Wondery.
It will examine the “rise and fall” of Hernandez, including looking into his identity, his family, his career, his deat, and his legacy. Hernandez was a tight end for the New England Patriots of the NFL before he was convicted of murder. He ultimately took his own life in prison in 2017. [via Variety]
Hernandez, a former tight end at the University of Florida and for the New England Patriots, took his own life back in 2017 at the age of 27 years old as he was at the start of the life sentence he was serving for the murder of Odin Lloyd.
Rivera is also currently dating Rachel Zegler, who starred in Maria in Spielberg’s West Side Story and is also one of the co-leads of The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. She’s also set to star as Snow White in Disney’s upcoming live-action adaption, which was recently delayed from March 2024 to March 2025.
The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes will be hitting movie theaters in the United States on Friday, November 17. Prior to the film’s release, our Post Credit Podcast spoke to director Francis Lawrence, which you can check out below.