Hulu’s Welcome to Wrexham proved to be docuseries gold when it hit screens late last year. The premise, which follows two Hollywood A-listers Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney as they venture across the Atlantic to buy a venerable but struggling football team in a former mining town in north Wales, sounded implausible for a television show but proved a massive hit with audiences who endeared themselves to both club and the never-say-die spirit exhibited by the community. The first season sent viewers on a rollercoaster of emotions, before the finale saw Wrexham fans’ hearts broken, as they missed out on promotion out of their league by the narrowest of margins.

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Now a second season has been commissioned and is expected to air on FX and Hulu later in 2023. Here’s why it will be unmissable.

A New Season Means New Drama

     FX/Hulu

After falling at the final hurdle last season, Wrexham’s indefatigable fans began the 2022-23 season with high hopes. But no sooner was the opening game underway in early August than the Dragons conceded a goal. Suddenly, the run of play was against them, and they looked not at all like the contenders of last year.

Step forward, Elliot Lee. If the name is unfamiliar to fans of season one, that’s because he had signed a playing contract for Wrexham a matter of weeks before. It proved to be a good investment, as Lee came off the substitutes’ bench to score two spectacular goals, send the Racecourse faithful into raptures, and propel Wrexham to a fine comeback victory.

Since then, the Dragons have done well, with a run of good results, star players Lee and Paul Mullin firing in the goals with regularity, and, at the time of writing, a second-place standing in their league. It’s fair to say that their season is finely poised at the start of 2023.

A New Stadium is Coming

     FX / Hulu

Not that Reynolds and McElhenney are planning on moving Wrexham from the Racecourse Ground. They’d be fools if they did. The Racecourse is confirmed by the Guinness Book of Records as the oldest international football stadium in the world. The Welsh national football team has played there dozens of times and enjoyed some famous victories, including against Wales’ old rivals England, and neither fans nor the people of Wrexham would stand for a move out of town anyway. The last time someone attempted to kick the club out of the stadium, it sparked a massive wave of protests and a court case. The club stayed where they were.

But there is one part of the Racecourse that could do with more than a spring cleaning: the Kop. Every Saturday, this massive terrace was home to many thousands of jubilant Wrexham fans until it was closed for safety reasons some years ago. Since then, the terrace has become overgrown and dilapidated. Hence, Reynolds and McElhenney’s plan to demolish it this year and erect a brand-new stand in its place. It won’t just be the team that will see major rebuilding in 2023.

Is Wrexham Still a Giant-Killer?

As fans of the series know, one of the reasons Reynolds and McElhenney were attracted to Wrexham was the club’s long and storied history. As the oldest football team in Wales, and the third-oldest in the world, there is some serious heritage behind the Dragons, not the least of which is in the realm of cup competitions. Over the years, Wrexham gained a fearsome reputation as one of British football’s most prolific “giant-killers:” lowly teams who have an uncanny knack for raising their game when faced with big-time opposition.

Any small team can get lucky every now and again, but in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, Wrexham made a habit of putting big clubs to the sword in the FA Cup and League Cup. English Premier League opposition such as Tottenham Hotspur, Sunderland, West Ham United, and, famously, the mighty London club Arsenal were all unceremoniously dumped out of the competition by the lowly Welsh club punching well above its weight. However, Wrexham has been in the doldrums for more than a decade now, and the club’s giant-killing days seemed to be over.

Or were they? This year, Wrexham was drawn in the third round of the FA Cup against Coventry City, previous winners of the cup and members of the Championship, a full four levels above Wrexham in the football pyramid. For those not wanting to be spoiled, we won’t divulge the final score, but suffice it to say that Wrexham’s performance in this David-and-Goliath encounter will be worth watching when season two of Welcome to Wrexham premieres later this year.