Ted Lasso is Officially Coming Back for Season 4, Ted Lasso Will Now Be Coaching Women
Hollywood Reporter - After more than a year of speculation, Apple TV+ has ordered a fourth season of its Emmy-winning comedy Ted Lasso. The pickup comes after co-creator and star Jason Sudeikis closed a deal to reprise his role as the title character, the manager of the fictional AFC Richmond soccer club in London.
“Ted Lasso has been nothing short of a juggernaut, inspiring a passionate fanbase all over the world, and delivering endless joy and laughter, all while spreading kindness, compassion and unwavering belief,” Matt Cherniss, head of programming for Apple TV+, said in a statement. “Everyone at Apple is thrilled to be continuing our collaboration with Jason and the brilliant creative minds behind this show.”
(SPOILERS FOR SEASONS 1-3 IN THIS BLOG)
I'm all for Ted Lasso returning for Season 4. Even though the show made some bizarre choices in Season 3. For the most part, Ted Lasso was all downhill after Season 1. But season 3 in particular was just strange. Nate's villain arc was weird all-around. It was never believable how much disdain he had for Ted Lasso, the guy who promoted him from equipment manager to assistant coach and giving him an entire life. Then there were little things bothered me. Like when Nate left West Ham and he was just living with his parents and working at a local restaurant. They portrayed him as this down and out guy with no place to go, who's only possible option would be to go back to working under Ted Lasso. Like he wouldn't be a millionaire with options galore after being head coach of a first place Premier League Club.
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And this is an even stupider thing to nitpick, but I could never get over Ted Lasso's ex-wife's new boyfriend. That was a ridiculous story line. For one, he was Ted and his ex-wife's old couples therapist. Ted got cucked by his couple's therapist. That's way more fucked up than the show ever gave it credit for. It's downright evil. That man shouldn't be allowed 100 yard within a therapy session for the rest of his life. And then when Richmond is playing West Ham in the most important game of Ted Lasso's career, the guy is just sitting on the couch blatantly mocking the game right in Ted Lasso's son's face. To his son, the game is the most important thing in the world. And his mom's serious boyfriend is acting like it's crazy they're even watching it. He's sitting in the back of the living room just scrolling his phone during a last second penalty kick. Your girlfriend's child's dad is the head coach of a Premier League team. That's so fucking cool. You can't just dismiss that like, "Oh it's just stupid soccer. This isn't a real sport."
But I very much enjoyed the show overall. To be fair, I'm the type of guy who leaves 99.99% of movies and TV shows thinking, "Yeah that was pretty good". Then I open Twitter and see my co-workers assuring me that it was actually a dog shit offense to media. (i.e. the Paradise season finale, which I thought was lovely but turned out to be an affront to television). But if Ted Lasso wants to come back for a Season 4, then why not. It was never supposed to be that serious or realistic to begin with. It's a little strange that they're coming back considering the ending to Season 3 was clearly written in a way that wrapped up Ted Lasso's soccer coaching career in a nice neat bow.
It really seemed like they were planning to end the series for good. But none of that matters when you have a guaranteed money maker like Ted Lasso on your hands. Of course Apple TV found a way to bring it back.
The big surprise change in Season 4, which Jason Sudeikis revealed on Taylor Swift's boyfriend's podcast, is that Ted Lasso will now be coaching women. Based on the ending to Season 3, I'm guessing Ted will be back in the United States. With all that went down with Ted Lasso's son, leaving the United States once again to go coach women would be an insane move. If I had to guess, I'd say Ted ends up coaching a women's professional team. The Kansas City Current is a NWSL team in Ted's hometown. Maybe Apple TV will get the rights to use them. Or maybe Ted will end up coaching college. Personally, I think that would be a better choice for the show. He could go back to Wichita State where he used to coach football. Maybe he could even help coach American football again as well. I feel like there's a lot they could do with Ted going back to his former school. And if Apple TV could somehow get the rights to use real American universities… that would be pretty awesome. That was always one of the coolest parts about Ted Lasso. It always cheapens a show about professional or college sports when they're forced to use hacky made up teams. Not sure that would matter as much with women's professional soccer, but if they could somehow get the rights to do it with college, that would be great.
There aren't much details out yet about Season 4, but it sounds like at least a handful of the main cast will be back along with Jason Sudeikis.
Details on season four are slight at the moment. THR reported in August 2024 that Warner Bros. TV, which produces Ted Lasso, had picked up options for actors Hannah Waddingham (Richmond owner Rebecca Welton), Brett Goldstein (player-turned-assistant coach Roy Kent) and Jeremy Swift (Richmond’s football director Leslie Higgins) in anticipation of a possible fourth season. Apple TV+ is not confirming any casting beyond that of Sudeikis, but sources tell THR that Juno Temple is in negotiations to reprise her role as Keeley Jones, and Brendan Hunt — also a co-creator and executive producer — is close to signing on to play Coach Beard again. Additionally, Jack Burditt (Nobody Wants This, 30 Rock) is joining the series as an executive producer as part of a new overall deal with Apple TV+
Honestly my expectations for this season are pretty low, considering Season 3 was wrapped up so nicely. I'm sure many people feel differently, but to me Ted Lasso is playing with house money. They basically get to start a show from scratch with a brand new team. Which might actually be a good thing. I loved Ted Lass being a Premier League coach. But things were starting to become a little too unrealistic for Premier League soccer. Even by Ted Lasso's standard of "they hired a college football coach to coach a Premier League soccer team".