Josh Rivera, the actor who plays Aaron Hernandez in the new Ryan Murphy biopic series American sports storyreflected with Newsweek on the scene that was most difficult for him to film.

The eighth episode of the hit FX series aired last week and revolved around the June 2013 murder of his brother-in-law, Odin Lloyd, by the former New England Patriots player.

It is believed that Lloyd knew Hernandez’s deep dark secret, which was that he was attracted to men.

In an interview with Newsweek at the series premiere in September, Rivera said, “The Odin Lloyd series was really difficult for me emotionally. That was a night shoot, so everyone was already very tired, and it was just extremely tense and very sad.”

Rivera continued, “I think the reality of a victim and their family has really sunk in for me. I think we consume things all the time that are interesting when you talk about true crime documentaries or something like that, and there’s this kind of barrier between reality that exists for whatever reason.”

“I think our brains do this to protect us. I think it’s a psychological mechanism that we have a hard time digesting that this happened, and these are people that it happened to, and the reality of that really came during that scene through to me.”

Once one of the most promising tight ends in the NFL, Hernandez formed one of the most dangerous tight end tandems in league history with Rob Gronkowski with the Patriots.

However, his football career came to an abrupt and shocking end in 2013 when he was arrested and charged with Lloyd’s murder.

Following his arrest, the Patriots released Hernandez from the team.

In 2015, Hernandez was found guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Two years later, Hernandez was acquitted of double murder charges in connection with a 2012 case, but just days later he was found dead in his prison cell, having died by suicide.

Hernandez was involved in the July 2012 murders of Daniel de Abreu and Safiro Furtado, who were shot and killed in a drive-by shooting in Boston.

Hernandez was eventually charged with the murders in 2014, but he was acquitted in April 2017, just days before his death. The prosecutor argued that Hernandez shot the men after one of them accidentally spilled a drink on him at a nightclub.

Rivera also spoke with Newsweek about how he thinks the current prevalence of social media might have influenced Hernandez’s crimes.

“I would imagine he would probably have been suspended from college and professional play a little more often,” Rivera said.

“Maybe people would have been a lot less shocked and blindsided by the whole thing if more people had been recording the whole time. I think a big part of what made the story so complex is that it seemed like no one had any idea That such a thing was even remotely possible, let alone probable. Judging from the character’s impulsiveness, I don’t know if that would have changed his actions greatly, but I think the public perception of it might have been a little different.”

The 10th and final episode of American Sports Story: Aaron Hernandez airs on November 12 at 10pm on FX and streams on Hulu the next day. The previous nine episodes are currently streaming on Hulu.

If you or someone you know is considering suicide, contact the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline by calling 988, text ‘988’ to the Crisis Text Line on 741741 or visit 988lifeline.org.

Do you have a story? Newsweek should cover? Do you have questions about this story? Contact [email protected]