Back in 2020, when Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney announced that they were buying a Welsh soccer team, many people weren’t sure what to make of it. It seemed ridiculous — perhaps like Colin Jost and Pete Davidson purchasing a Staten Island ferry — especially given their stated goal to take the fifth-rank club to the top-tier Premier League. After yet another Wrexham Red Dragons promotion, that’s actually within the actors’ grasp, and Reynolds couldn’t help but call back to that first pitch meeting.
Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney have been documenting their journey with the Wrexham AFC on the FX docuseries Welcome to Wrexham (streaming with a Hulu subscription), and it looks like the show will have quite an exciting fourth season when it hits the 2025 TV schedule in May. That’s because on April 26, the team earned its third-straight promotion and are now just one tier away from the Premier League. Reynolds celebrated with an emotional Instagram post that includes a bevy of photos.
Blake Lively can be seen celebrating alongside her husband and the It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia star, after a 3-0 victory against Charlton Athletic in their home stadium cemented their place in the EFL Championship League for the first time since the 1981-82 season. In a lengthy caption, Ryan Reynolds recalled people not taking him and Rob McElhenney seriously five years ago. He wrote:
We’ve been with Wrexham for what seems like the blink of an eye, but so much has happened. I remember the first press conference, we were asked what our goals were… and I think Rob jumped in with, ‘The Premiere League.’ People laughed. They had every right to. It seemed insane… But we weren’t kidding.
The actors certainly jumped in on the deep end, making big moves and often spending lots of money to advance the club. Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively even purchased a home in the village of Marford, Wales, to be closer to the team. The Deadpool star mentioned how much he feels at home there, continuing in his post:
The Stadium feels like a church. I know so many of you now. Since February, 2021, I’ve watched babies become regulars. And some regulars depart us for good. We’ve had the honour to scatter ashes of loved ones across that field. I’ve even watched every available hand shovel snow off the pitch to keep a match from cancellation.
Some of his photos show just how much this promotion means to the fans, as we can see them storming the field following the Wrexham victory and setting off flares. The owners (and Blake Lively) took photos with the team and fans, signing merch and posing for selfies. Ryan Reynolds concluded his love letter to the Welsh football club by writing:
Somebody said the Welsh have the ‘heart of a poet and the fist of a fighter.’ That’s what I love about this place. I wish the whole world could visit Wrexham. Diolch. 🏴
He makes a strong case for it, to be sure. Blake Lively also shared a loving tribute to her husband's accomplishments on her Instagram Stories:
The Red Dragons earned their promotion to League Two in 2023, inspiring a tender, caught-on-camera moment between the Hollywood owners. In April 2024 they advanced to League One, leading to this year’s historic third-straight promotion into the second-tier Championship.
Will Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney be able to complete the mission that got them laughed at five years ago? We’ll have to wait and see, but if you want to go on the journey with them, new episodes of Welcome to Wrexham premiere at 9 p.m. ET Thursday, May 15, on FX and streaming the next day on Hulu.
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