“Welcome to Wrexham” is a documentary series about a small Welsh town and the two Hollywood stars who bought its football club. It ran for five seasons on FX, Hulu and FXX, and it earned eleven Primetime Emmy Awards and two Critics’ Choice Television Awards along the way. The show is a portrait of a community, told through the struggles and triumphs of a team that nearly died.
The premise is simple. Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, both American actors, took over Wrexham A.F.C., the third-oldest professional football club in the world, founded in 1864. They had no experience managing a sports team. The series follows their attempts to revive the club, improve the local community, and navigate the challenges of running a professional football operation in North Wales.
Trailer, via FX Networks.
The Two Owners
Reynolds and McElhenney appear as themselves throughout the series. They are the show’s central figures, and the camera treats them with a mix of affection and mockery. The series is irreverent and often openly critical of the two co-chairmen, showing them struggling with the Welsh language and making mistakes along the way. That honesty is the show’s strength.
The pair’s ambitions are modest and grand at once. They want to bring attention to Wrexham, a working-class town, and they want to build a winning team. The series tracks both goals, sometimes side by side, sometimes at odds with each other.
Seasons of Success
The show covers five seasons of the club’s history, following the team from its lowest point to its highest. Here is how the seasons break down:
| Season | Focus | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | First season under new ownership, 2021–22 | Second place in the National League, missed promotion |
| 2 | 2022–23 season | Promotion to EFL League Two |
| 3 | 2023–24 season | Back-to-back promotion to EFL League One |
| 4 | 2024–25 season | Promotion to EFL Championship |
| 5 | 2025–26 season | Final season covered |
The table shows a steady climb. After a first season where the team finished second but missed promotion, the club won four promotions in four years. That trajectory is the backbone of the series.
The Town and Its People
The show is not just about Reynolds and McElhenney. It spends significant time with the people around the club: supporters, staff, and residents of Wrexham. The series follows the club’s executive director, Humphrey Ker, and the players, including Aaron Hayden, Ollie Palmer, Ben Tozer, Elliot Lee, and Kieffer Moore. It also follows supporters like Rob Clarke, Shaun Winter, Annette Gardner, and Sam Halton.
The camera captures the daily life of the town. It visits the Turf pub, owned by Wayne Jones, which sits at the corner of the Racecourse Ground where the club was founded in 1864. The show also includes interviews with local figures like Bryn Law, the football commentator and Wrexham fan, and Spencer Harris, the former Wrexham A.F.C. director.
These smaller stories give the series its emotional weight. The club’s fortunes rise and fall, but the people stay constant.
The Critical Reception
The show’s critical reception was strong. Eleven Primetime Emmy Awards and two Critics’ Choice Television Awards are a notable haul for a reality series. The show was renewed for three more seasons in April 2026.
That renewal suggests the show still has legs. The fifth season’s last episode aired on June 25, 2026, and the series remains a fixture of FX programming.
Our Verdict
“Welcome to Wrexham” succeeds because it refuses to treat its subjects as celebrities. Reynolds and McElhenney are shown making genuine mistakes, and the show is honest about the difficulty of running a football club. The series is also generous with its time for the local community, giving equal weight to the supporters, staff, and residents of Wrexham.
The show’s flaws are predictable for the genre, but the show is at its best when it balances humor with sincerity.
Our score for “Welcome to Wrexham” is 7.5 out of 10. The show is a worthy documentary that captures a real story with real stakes. It is a reminder that sports are not just games; they are anchors for entire communities.
The series ends with the club reaching the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. That is a remarkable achievement for a club that nearly went out of business. The show’s final season covered the 2025–26 campaign, and the fifth season’s last episode aired on June 25, 2026.
For anyone who cares about football, or about how people find meaning in shared struggle, “Welcome to Wrexham” is worth watching. It is a good show about a great story.
Get the Notebook.
The day's best stories and every fresh verdict, in plain English, in your inbox by seven. One email a day, no more.
