Players
Players is a 2022 American comedic mockumentary television series that follows a fictional professional League of Legends esports team, Fugitive Gaming, as it pursues its first championship after years of close calls. To reach the top, the team's prodigy, a 17-year-old rookie, and its 27-year-old veteran must put aside their egos and work together1. The ten-episode series was created and executive produced by Tony Yacenda and Dan Perrault, the Peabody Award-winning duo behind the Netflix mockumentary American Vandal, and premiered on Paramount+ on June 16, 20222.
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Format | Comedic documentary-style (mockumentary) series, TV-MA, episodes of 35 minutes1 • 2 |
| Creators | Tony Yacenda and Dan Perrault, co-creators and executive producers2 |
| Production | CBS Studios in association with Funny Or Die2 |
| Premiere | June 16, 2022 on Paramount+; first three episodes at launch, then weekly Thursday releases2 |
| Episodes | 10 episodes in one season3 |
| Main cast | Misha Brooks as Creamcheese, Da'Jour Jones as Organizm, Ely Henry as coach Kyle Braxton2 |
| Critical reception | Metascore of 80 (generally favorable), ranked #6 in a Metacritic list of the best Paramount+ original series4 |
Spoilers
Premise and characters
The series centers on Fugitive Gaming, a long-established fictional North American League of Legends organization best known for its Support player Creamcheese (Misha Brooks), who has a big mouth and an even bigger ego5. With his career winding down and no championship to show for it, Creamcheese clashes with Organizm (Da'Jour Jones), a 17-year-old prodigy and popular streamer whom the team signs to refresh its brand, allowing him to skip the lower "Academy" leagues5 • 6. Ely Henry plays Kyle Braxton, the team's coach2.
The supporting cast includes Holly Chou, Stephen Schneider, Peter Thurnwald, Youngbin Chung, Moses Storm, Alexa Mansour, Noh "Arrow" Dong-Hyeon, Michael "Miko" Ahn, Luke Tennie, and Dan Perrault2. Several roles are played by real-life League of Legends professionals or amateurs; Youngbin Chung, an amateur player, portrays Nightfall7.
Production
Yacenda and Perrault applied to esports the same attention to detail and faux authenticity they had used on American Vandal, their Netflix true-crime satire that ran for two seasons8 • 9. The creators said they were inspired by real sports documentaries, and they aimed to make a series enjoyable regardless of the viewer's gaming experience9.
Real-world grounding. The show is filled with real analysts, content creators, and esports organizations to add legitimacy to the mockumentary. Some portions were filmed on location at the LCS Studios in Los Angeles, and much of the music featured throughout comes from Riot Games, the developer of League of Legends5. The mix of real and fictional characters gave the series what one reviewer described as an esports Entourage feeling7.
Reception
Critics responded well to the series. On Metacritic it holds a Metascore of 80, and a 2026 ranking of Paramount+ originals placed it sixth, with reviewers praising the lavishly produced series for building real-world stakes and emotional depth on top of its deadpan gags, and for interrogating gaming stereotypes while treating its characters with humanity4.
Reviewers also noted its limits. ComicBook.com called it an enjoyable spoof likely to resonate with a smaller audience than American Vandal, since the story centers on professional League of Legends5. Slant Magazine found the farcicality restrained compared with American Vandal, partly because the series revolves around a real game whose jargon and norms are already familiar to its intended audience, but judged the story of Fugitive Gaming engrossing despite a familiar clash between old and new6. Upcomer described the show as heartwarming, cringe-inducing, and almost certainly lacking in broader appeal for anyone who does not play or watch League of Legends7. Dexerto's review credited the series with giving fans a grounded, behind-the-scenes look at the esports scene through complex characters10.
Context in the creators' careers
Players sits between the two projects that define Yacenda and Perrault's careers. Both met as collaborators on American Vandal (2017), the Netflix mockumentary that portrayed teen sleuths solving a high school vandalism case as if it were true crime9. After Players, the pair were named writers and showrunners of The People v. Gorilla Grodd, DC Studios' mockumentary-style true-crime comedy for HBO Max, in which they again apply documentary framing to a fictional subject11.
References
- Players - Production & Contact Info, IMDbPro
- Players, Funny Or Die
- Players (2022) - Titles & Air Dates Guide, epguides
- The 15 Best Paramount+ Original Series of All Time, Metacritic
- Players Review: An Enjoyable Spoof For a Limited Audience, ComicBook.com
- Players Review: A Knowingly Silly, If Too Familiar, Send-Up of Gaming Competitions, Slant Magazine
- Players is unapologetically a show about League of Legends, Upcomer
- Players (2022) - Paramount+ Series - Where To Watch, TV Insider
- Players cast, creators inspired by real sports documentaries, UPI
- Players Season 1 review: a Challenger-tier League of Legends esports show, Dexerto
- DC Studios' The People v. Gorilla Grodd greenlit at HBO Max, GamesRadar
Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Series and fictional screen worlds › Scripted television and comedy series › Sitcom and comedy series › Mockumentary comedy series
Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026
Your notes
© 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI. Free to use with credit under the Edgepedia Community License. Developers: read Edgepedia by API or MCP. Embed a reference card.