Yahoo News The real-life football drama covered in Welcome to Wrexham season 2
What to expect as season 2 of Welcome to Wrexham arrives on Disney+ in the UK
The football docu-series returns for a second season on Disney+ in the UK on 13 September.
Season 2 follows the Welsh club on its quest for promotion to reach its holy grail... League Two, the fourth tier of English football.
But the modern fairytale of Wrexham AFC comes with a large sprinkling of Hollywood stardust, in the shape of actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, who bought the club to the shock of the football world in November 2020.
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The second season of the show covers the 2022/2023 season, and it brought plenty of drama both on and off the pitch.
Here are the events that are likely to be covered in season 2 of Welcome to Wrexham... spoilers in coming
Watch a trailer for Welcome To Wrexham S2
Promotion
The final episode of season 1 of Welcome to Wrexham focused on the team's heartbreaking failure to make it out of the National League and into League Two, when they lost their playoff semi-final 4-5 to Grimsby Town at the end of the 2021/22 season.
But season 2 of the show will have a happier ending, as Wrexham secured automatic promotion to the fourth tier of English football.
Watch: Wild celebrations as Wrexham gain promotion to the EFL
They did so in some style, winning 34 and drawing nine of their 46 matches, losing on only three occasions, giving them a haul of 111 points, allowing them to pip Notts County to the title.
The key game was between the two sides at Wrexham's Racecourse Ground on 10 April this year, when a 3-2 home win went some way to help securing promotion.
The co-owners joined the team on the rooftop of their victory parade bus.
A Hollywood script
The unlikely hero that day was 40-year-old goalkeeper Ben Foster, a former England international who had spells with Manchester United, West Bromwich Albion and Watford, who had come out of retirement to play for Wrexham, having been at the club during a short loan spell 18 years previously.
Read more: Welcome to Wrexham season 2 review: Football docu-series still has heart
He saved a penalty kick in the seventh minute of added time to help Wrexham secure all three points, in only his fourth game for the club since his return. He even got a kiss from McElhenney for his efforts.
“Rob kissed me fully on the lips,” said Foster afterwards.
“I said to them, ‘Listen, you may as well end the documentary now. You’ll never get a better moment than what’s just happened.'"
Wrexham AFC Women
One of the episodes in season 2 focuses on the achievements of Wrexham AFC Women, who matched their male counterparts by also winning promotion.
After winning their league, the Adran North championship, in March, they went on to secure promotion to the Adran Premier, the top women's division in Wales, after beating Briton Ferry Llansawel AFC 1-0 in a playoff.
Ten of the squad went on to sign semi-professional contracts, a first in the club's history.
Congratulating the team on their league win, Reynolds posted on Instagram: “These women played their guts out and @robmcelhenney and I couldn’t be prouder or more choked up.”
Welcome the Windsors
Season 2 of the show opens with some quite high-profile visitors to the Racecourse Ground, as King Charles and Queen Camilla take a tour.
Their visit in December 2022 is featured in the first episode, and the royal couple walked through the players’ tunnel on to the pitch, meeting Reynolds, McElhenney and the players.
Charles wished the players luck ahead of their next game and Camilla told one of them: “It’s an extraordinary story.”
Watch: Charles and Camilla meet Ryan Reynolds at Wrexham AFC
The King and Queen also met the club's disability liaison officer, Kerry Evans, and participants of Powerchair football, a team sport for those who use electric wheelchairs.
Ms Evans said: “It’s very, very special, what an honour. The King and Camilla both said it’s absolutely amazing the work we’ve been doing here.
“I never thought we’d have royalty at the club, now we’ve had Hollywood royalty and real royalty!”
Reynolds posted on social media after the visit: “Welcome to Wrexham Season 2: Charles in Charge.”
The A-listers
It wouldn't be the new Wrexham AFC without some celebrities to spot in the stands.
At the beginning of this season, Hugh Jackman, the Wolverine to Reynolds's Deadpool (the pair will star together in Deadpool 3 next year), attended the club's first game in the Football League for 15 years, when they were beaten 5-3 at home by MK Dons.
Season 2 will feature another superhero, this time in the form of Ant-Man actor Paul Rudd, who was behind the camera for the emotional moment when Reynolds and McElhenney celebrated (in stunned silence) their side's promotion to League Two. Reynolds later posted the clip on his YouTube channel.
The Welcome to Wrexham cameras were trained on actor Will Ferrell when he called into the club in February.
In a video post on the club's Twitter account, the actor said: “Hi, this is Will Ferrell. It’s my first time here.
“Where are we again? Wrexham.”
Welcome To Wrexham S2 returns to Disney+ on Wednesday, 13 September with new episodes weekly.
