In a recent interview, Natalie Portman teased that her football club could be facing Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney’s club, Wrexham AFC.
With the recent success story of Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney’s club, Wrexham AFC and their Disney+/FX docuseries Welcome to Wrexham, the Annihilation star Natalie Portman hopes to do the same with her own HBO docuseries Angel City. In a recent interview with Entertainment Tonight, she hinted that her women’s team could potentially challenge Wrexham’s women’s team in the near future.
Spoiler alert ahead! If you have not seen Welcome to Wrexham on Disney+, I highly recommend it for football/soccer lovers or anyone interested in Reynolds’ work outside of Deadpool. Basically, Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney became co-owners of the Welsh football club with no prior knowledge of the whole English football system nor much about the intricate details of the sport.
They bought the team when it was relegated down to the fifth tier of the English league pyramid. However, they have met so much success, with Wrexham winning the Vanarama National League title under their leadership, securing their promotion to the next league up. They are now back in the English Football League (EFL) system, where they will play in League Two next year, a couple of steps closer to reaching the English Premier League.
“I was lucky enough to speak to Ryan about his foray, it’s very inspiring what he’s done with Wrexham, and they’ve got a women’s team as well. We’ve talked about having some friendly matches at some point,” Portman commented to Entertainment Tonight. Whether this match actually happens is all in Reynolds and McElhenney’s court now, but I would definitely pay a lot to see this match.
Portman became the co-founder of the Los Angeles-based professional women’s football club Angel City FC in 2020, and the team has been playing in the US National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL). Other major celebrities involved and invested in the project include Christina Aguilera, Jennifer Garner, Eva Longoria, Alexis Ohanian, Uzo Aduba, Jessica Chastain, Mia Hamm, America Ferrera, Gabrielle Union, Lilly Singh, Sophia Bush, Rachel Zoe, Lindsey Vonn, as well as former players Cobi Jones and Abby Wambach.
In a recent interview with People Magazine, Portman went into great detail about the project and how her docuseries will be about the conversation of the continued mission of the Time’s Up Movement, which is also seen in the women’s sports industry. While the Time’s Up Movement has somewhat slowed down traction, Portman recognized, “It’s beautiful to have this as kind of a continuation of the mission.”
Natalie Portman’s HBO docuseries Angel City is set to debut exclusively on HBO Max on May 16.
