Leighton Cox is living a personal and professional dream. The Emmy winner and 2026 nominee was born and raised in Wrexham, the Welsh city made famous by FX‘s Welcome to Wrexham. He has not only been working on the acclaimed series, but has been around to witness the city and team’s monumental positive change since Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds decided to take over ownership and capture it all on film.
“This is still a dream, right?” says Cox with a smile. “It’s just incredible. I’ve been on a roller coaster for about five years since the takeover happened. I had been working in football docs for about five years before COVID shut everything down and then in the middle of that there was this rumor that these two guys from Hollywood were going to buy my local club in non-league football [Cox’s “football” is our American “soccer,” of course]. You’re thinking, ‘I’m gonna wake up soon.’ But I sent out a tweet to say, “Wrexham local who has been working in football for the last five years. Is there any work going around?” I got a call from a New York number and two weeks later I was shooting on the show.”
Gold Derby spoke with him about how his native city has changed and adapted to international attention, what his nominated episode, “Do a Wrexham,” means to him and how long he hopes to work on the series.
Gold Derby: What was the vibe of the area before and then now? Obviously things have amped up in the football space, but how has it changed?
Leighton Cox: Honestly, there was a time where I felt like people were losing hope in the town. Especially businesses in the town center. A lot of people I know were moving away for better jobs and that sort of thing, moving to London, moving to Manchester.
Then all this happened and then all of a sudden we’re under the spotlight and there’s just this belief in the town again and hope that it can be better. And honestly, it gets me overwhelmed sometimes because, you know, this is truly a place that has changed. And I think we’ve seen that in the show as well. yeah, it’s changed the lives of a few people and it’s just given belief back to the town that, you know, we can make something other settles from here.
What’s your specialty? I have seen Steadicam mentioned, but when people are watching the episodes, is there anything you like to point to out in how you contribute positively?
Well what’s funny about that is just before COVID I was really making my way as a Steadicam operator. There was a point in my career where I was thinking, do I stick with football documentaries as a camera operator, DP, or do I now push into drama and commercials as a Steadicam operator? And then this job came around. I consider doc work my day job and Steadicam is like moonlighting. So I still get to do the odd music video and that but I’ve always done doc work, I’ve always operated, but Steadicam is a specialty that I haven’t been able to move into in the doc world. So it’s like two separate sides of me.
I definitely don’t know enough about how you do it all, are you using Steadicam around the actual matches?
We use a lot of gimbal. So we’ll have Ronin 4Ds and Osmos and all sorts… whatever we need to capture the chaos.
What made you submit “Do a Wrexham” as your episode? I also love that that has become a turn of phrase.
It’s just the culmination of everything we tried to achieve on the show. And I just think it’s every department working at their best. It felt like the cinematography served the edit, served like the sound, everything came together so well in that episode. And it’s an absolute emotional roller coaster. So yeah, it had to be that one. I rewatched it today and I had goosebumps again, and I know what happened, I was there. It’s just so good.
How do you decide how to interview the locals?
There are maybe two roads to the stadium. So we position ourselves in those zones before and after a game. And we know enough people now that we can just be like, “Hey, come over here.” Or, now that the fans have seen the show, they’re confident in the message that we’re trying to get out there. They’re happy to come and tell us how they feel. They don’t care about being made a fool of because of that trust that we’ve built up over years of being around the town. We get such great stuff on the street.
How quickly do you think people understood that Rob especially came in with good intentions? People had to have been suspicious or skeptical.
Yeah, it took a while as well. I think it took until the show came out that they really started to believe. Because behind the scenes they’re making all the right decisions with the community in mind at first, but that’s behind closed doors. And it wasn’t until the show came out that they’re really like, “OK, we get it. These guys are on our side,” which fills me with joy still.
For tourists coming to Wrexham, how do you advise people to plan a successful trip to be the best supporter or tourist they can be?
There’s a mural trail now of everything to do with football and the town and the community, that starts at one end of the town and goes to the far end. If you just walk that and start talking to people, you’ll have the best experience in the town. People are happy to stop and chat and direct you or there’s so many instances where I’m curious about the people coming to my town and I want to talk to them, find out where they’re from. It’s fascinating to know where everyone’s come from.
How long would you like to be on this show?
It got renewed for three seasons. It’s been the best job I’ve ever had really, and it’s kept me close to home and it made me curious about my own town and people, with an outside perspective that I’d never had before. I found a new, deeper appreciation for the place. So whatever keeps me around for another few years.
This article and video are presented by FX.