'Welcome to Wrexham' Scores a Season 5 Commission

The stunning success of Welcome to Wrexham cannot be overstated. It's a rare reality series that can stand shoulder to shoulder with prestige TV, and even when one does, it's tough to maintain for an extended run over several years. But Wrexham discovered it had a secret weapon: the local fans. They have provided the series with the ability to explore everything from the post-Brexit economic situation in Wales to the toxic masculinity embodied in "footie culture." As for the team, it turned out it just needed owners willing to put in the work off the field that the players do on, and the result is a club that has scored back-to-back promotions, twice.

Since the show’s second season, Wrexham AFC has progressed from the fifth tier to the EFL League Two and then to the EFL League One. When Season 4's trailer arrived with the announcement that Wrexham would be promoted to the Championship League, a place the team hadn’t been since 1980, it was essentially a given that a Season 5 commission would follow shortly.

However, success may breed more seasons, but it also encourages FX to take a swing at new series. Thus far, the production company behind Wrexham, owner Ryan Reynolds' Maximum Effort, has announced a docuseries focused on the Canadian hockey team, the Edmonton Oilers, titled The Great Ones. (Reynolds is Canadian, hockey is their religion, the way football is in the U.K.) However, before that, FX will premiere another football-focused series, with actor Eva Longoria joining Reynolds and Wrexham co-owner Rob McElhenney to invest in the Mexico-based Club Necaxa, which plays in the city of Aguascalientes.