Rob McElhenney compares Wrexham AFC with Rocky films

Hollywood pair Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds took over the Reds in 2021 with a clear plan of returning the club to League Two. 

All the ongoings would be documented in Welcome to Wrexham, the award-winning show which put Wrexham AFC and its community on a world stage. 

It was a heartbreaking end to the 2021/22 season, after the Reds lost 5-4 to Grimsby in the playoffs. 

A week earlier, they had been beaten 1-0 by Bromley at Wembley in the FA Trophy final. 

READ MORE: Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney's impact on Wrexham highlighted in viral twitter thread

All that meant a difficult ending to season one of Welcome to Wrexham, Rob told Variety Magazine: "It was devastating."

"We had two or three episodes already done and edited. We had all of these high hopes that there was going to be a happy ending, and we had to sit down and make the rest of the series knowing that it was going to have this tragic end — and figure out how to approach it."

"Maybe it was just me justifying the loss so that I could feel better, but I remember having many conversations with Ryan saying, “We knew that we had a second season already picked up, and we knew that we were gonna start filming again in a few months … as a chairman, this is terrible. But as a storyteller, it’s really not that bad?”.

Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds.

"I mean, Rocky didn’t win at the end of the first “Rocky.” Because the point wasn’t that he beat Apollo Creed, it was that he proved to himself that he mattered, and he could keep getting up. So, we knew there was an ending to the story there that could be profound. But it definitely sets up an expectation for Season 2. Because there really is no “Rocky II” where Rocky loses to Apollo Creed again."

However, after a record-breaking season, Phil Parkinson's men secured a return to the Football League, much to the delight of their owners (despite the anxiety). 

READ MORE: Rob and Ryan on verge of fulfilling mission statement goal with Wrexham AFC

It means there will be a happy ending to season two of Welcome to Wrexham, which is likely to be released in the next few months.

Ryan, who admitted he wouldn't have had it any other way, added:  "But all roads lead to here, so no regrets at all.

"I’m so grateful for the experiences of that first big season, even with the fact that the club didn’t get promoted, because it laid the groundwork for one of the most exciting seasons, I think, in National League football history.

"I don’t think I’ve ever felt anxiety ratcheted up like (at the end of the 2022-23 season). It wasn’t enjoyable for me. It was hell going into the Notts County game this year, actual hell.

"The fact that the team managed to pull it out in the last second was so perfectly Wrexham. Wrexham always finds some way to string out the drama until you’re quite convinced your heart has beat its last beat.

"There’s that football expression that Rob taught me: “Squeaky bum time.” I now completely understand squeaky bum time. "