Dan Fogelman brings his flair for family dramas to the NFL, as Hulu launches this show the day after the Super Bowl.
Hulu offers a first look at The Land, Dan Fogelman’s new series starring Christopher Meloni as an embattled Cleveland Browns head coach. The show premieres on February 15, 2027, one day after Super Bowl LXI on February 14 in SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California.
“The Land” will stream on Hulu and the Hulu + Disney+ Bundle in the US, and international viewers can watch it on Disney+.
Meloni plays the Browns’ head coach, Danny Roarke, who has had multiple bad seasons with the team but has one last chance to revive the franchise. This depends upon how well a rookie quarterback from Ohio State University, who happens to be his son, plays.
Hal Durkin, who owns the team, has to choose which of his two daughters will lead the franchise. According to Hulu, the story follows two families as on-field and off-field struggles become part of a passionate fanbase demanding immediate success.
The cast includes Mandy Moore, Chace Crawford, Sam Corlett, Tanner Zagarino, Chloe Bennet, Bridget Moynahan, William H. Macy, and Omar Epps.
Earlier casting announcements brought them all to life. Macy plays the team owner, while Mandy Moore and Bennet play his daughters. Corlett, an Australian actor known for Netflix’s Territory, plays the team’s rookie quarterback, Connor Roarke. Zagarino plays Danny’s other son. Moynahan plays Roarke’s ex-wife, Belinda. Crawford plays the team’s new general manager, while Epps plays an offensive coordinator who once played in the NFL.
In January, Macy offered early insights about his show at a red carpet event, with Deadline noting that his team is basically the Browns.
“It’s called The Land because that’s what people from Cleveland call it,” William H. Macy
At the same time, Macy said there is a difference between the real team and the fictional one in his show: “there’s the real Cleveland Browns and the reel.”
Mandy Moore, who has acted in This Is Us by Fogelman, mentioned that “The Land” will be something like Friday Night Lights meets Succession. According to her, she plays a very driven woman who will do everything she can to get the top spot.
Production started in October 2025 on a set designed like the Browns’ locker room, where Moore posted a picture of herself with Meloni, saying, “See you soon on Hulu and don’t forget … football is family.”
NFL got involved in this as well. At the 2026 NFL Draft in Pittsburgh in April, the league’s commissioner, Roger Goodell, stepped onto the stage to announce Ohio State quarterback Connor Roarke as the team’s first overall selection. He said the moment was being shot for an as-yet-unidentified scripted program. In actuality, the Las Vegas Raiders drafted Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza first overall.
Meloni, famous for playing Detective Elliot Stabler in the “Law & Order” franchise, visited the Cleveland Browns training camp in Berea, Ohio, in the summer of 2025 to learn about the team.
Ordered in October 2024, the first season of “The Land” reportedly had six episodes.
Dan Fogelman, the creator of This Is Us, created “The Land” and serves as the executive producer and showrunner. This is Fogelman’s next Hulu project after the thriller, Paradise, where Sterling K. Brown stars. The series, This Is Us, has run for six seasons on NBC and won 40 Emmy nominations. He previously made a sports drama in the form of Fox’s “Pitch”, which told the story of the first woman to play Major League Baseball.
Jess Rosenthal, Kevin Falls, and Justin Adler serve as executive producers, alongside David Ellison, Jesse Sisgold, and Jason T. Reed, for Skydance Sports. “The Land” is a co-production of 20th Television and Skydance Sports.
