Stuart Zicherman didn't intend to have "American Sports Story: Aaron Hernandez" absolve the late NFL player of his crimes, chiefly, the fatal 2013 shooting of his friend, Odin Lloyd. "Aaron's guilty of murder. He ruined people's lives and families' lives. And he should never be forgiven for that," the creator of the recently released FX drama anthology told Salon. And yet, despite Hernandez's wrongdoings, Zicherman caveated that his case is somewhat of a cautionary tale, a lethal cocktail that saw Hernandez's consistent lack of guiding authority figures crash headlong with a franchise that often views players as "commodities."
With a lead performance by Josh Rivera of "West Side Story" and "The Hunger Games" prequel "The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes," the ten-episode series — which also saw "American Horror Story"'s Ryan Murphy as an executive producer — traces Hernandez's life as a fledgling phenom from Bristol, Connecticut through his collegiate career at the University of Florida and subsequent professional role as a tight end for the New England Patriots. It ultimately concludes with Hernandez's death by suicide while incarcerated in 2017, which many have speculated to have been a result of a severe case of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) — a degenerative brain disease found in many football players — and rumors about his sexuality.
