Ted Lassocame to a close with season 3, but starJason Sudeikisknows we all want more.
“I can’t help but take the question as flattery for what all of us that were working on the show has tried to do,” Sudeikis, who co-created the series with Brendan Hunt and Joe Kelly, told Deadline. “It’s really kind of folks to even consider that because you never know what’s gonna happen when you make things. The fact that people want more, even if it’s a different avenue, is lovely.”
Cast ofTed Lasso, from L: Jeremy Swift, Phil Dunster, Brett Goldstein, Hannah Waddingham, Jason Sudeikis, Juno Temple, Nick Mohammed and Brendan Hunt.Rich Fury/Getty
In March 2023, a few days after the premiere of season 3, severalmembers of theTed Lassocast visited the White House. They spoke with PresidentJoe Bidenand First LadyJill Bidenabout the importance of mental health, and Sudeikis addressed the press in the briefing room.
“No matter who you are, no matter where you live, no matter who you voted for, we all — probably, I assume — we all know someone who has … struggled, that’s felt isolated, that’s felt anxious, that’s felt alone,” he said. “I truly believe that we should all do our best to help take care of each other.”
Jason Sudeikis as Ted Lasso
Born Daniel Jason Sudeikis in Fairfax, Va., Sudeikis, nephew ofCheersstarGeorge Wendt, got his start in showbiz performing improv with Second City. He was hired as a writer forSaturday Night Livein 2003. Two years later, in 2005, Sudeikis joined theSNLcast, often playingJoe BidenandMitt Romneyand appearing in “Weekend Update” segments as the devil.
After leavingSNLin 2013, Sudeikis starred inHorrible Bosses,Horrible Bosses 2andWe’re the Millers, as well as critically acclaimed filmsColossal(with Oscar winnerAnne Hathaway),Downsizing,Sleeping With Other Peopleand histhen-fianceeOlivia Wilde’s directorial debutBooksmartin 2019. (He and Wilde,who sharedaughterDaisyand sonOtis,have since split.)
“Honestly, honestly, swear to God, I found myself giving the same advice to every single person,” Sudeikis said. “I was just like, you know, ‘Win an Emmy! And if you can, win two!’ You know, double up. That’s the best way to do it. It sets you up for success.”
Sudeikis has since won two more Emmys for the show and his portrayal as the earnest title character. As for his plans to continue portraying Ted Lasso after the series wraps up, the actor joked to Deadline: “I mean, there’s always Cameo, right?”
Hannah Waddingham as Rebecca Welton
Hannah Waddinghamwas born in London and grew up around music (her mother and maternal grandparents were professional opera singers). The star was a veteran actress and singer on the West End stage in her native Britain (and on Broadway inSpamalot) before landing the female lead role of Rebecca Welton, team owner, onTed Lasso.
Prior to herTed Lassoscreen star turn, Waddingham actually had memorable, if brief, parts on two other hit series. InGame of Thrones, Waddingham played the much-memed “Shame Nun” Septa Unella in the HBO smash for two seasons; she also appears as Jackson’s mother in Netflix’sSex Educationandhad a small role inHocus Pocus 2alongside the classic Sanderson sistersSarah Jessica Parker,Bette Midlerand Kathy Najimy.
Her role of Rebecca has been her biggest yet, and Waddingham hasmade no secret about how life-changingTed Lassohas been for her. While accepting the Emmy for outstanding supporting actress in a comedy series, a tearful Waddingham thanked Sudeikis profusely.
Part of why Waddingham loves the role so much is how close to home it’s hit for her, especially in the episode “No Weddings and a Funeral,” which shefilmed while her own father was undergoing heart surgery in real life. While she appreciates the work, Waddingham joked that Sudeikis is a “nightmare” because he always makes her laugh during filming when her character is supposed to be straitlaced.
“Imagine playing Rebecca, where I’m meant to be this stoic ice queen. Imagine doing scenes when Jason has got the cheeky little pixie going on in his eye.He’s a nightmare!And so is Nick Mohammed,” she added, “to the point where in Season 2 when Nick Mohammed and I have to do scenes together, we have to slightly look off the side of each other’s faces.”
Like almost the entire rest of the world, Waddingham wishesTed Lassocould go on forever. She previously toldEntertainment Tonightof season 3 being the end of the road, “If I were Apple and Warner Bros., I’d be leaning on [Sudeikis] like a lunatic andputting him in a corner in a little cageand giving him a notebook and a pen. It’s too beautiful.”
Brett Goldstein as Roy Kent
Ted Lassobreakout starBrett Goldsteinknew from a young age that he wanted to be an entertainer. He began writing and performing plays when he was young and got his first taste of theater while studying film at the University of Warwick, all while still writing and performing his own material.
During that time, he also tried his hand at being a stuntman. “I used topretend to be Indiana Jonesand jump off roofs and slide under garage doors. I was 29 at the time,” he previously told PEOPLE.
“I can’t speak for fans,” he toldThe Sunday Times. “But I can speak about how it has shaped us.Ted is our best selves— he tries to bring out our best selves.”
In addition to his work onTed Lasso, Goldstein is co-creator of AMC’sSoulmatesand has his own podcast,Films to Be Buried With. He also made his Marvel Cinematic Universe debut as Hercules in apost-credit scene inThor: Love and Thunder.
Juno Temple as Keeley Jones
Juno Temple stars as Keeley Jones, a character somewhat loosely based on her real-life formerTed LassocostarKeeley Hazell. In the series, Keeley is a model who becomes the team’s publicity and marketing manager before she moves on and starts her own PR and marketing agency.
Temple, the daughter of director Julian Temple and producer Amanda Pirie, is a London-born and bred actor who got her start as a child. When she was 8 years old, she appeared in the filmVigo: A Passion for Life; three years later her father directed her inPandaemonium.
When Temple was a teen, she was acclaimed for her role as Polly inNotes on a Scandalalongside Oscar winnersCate BlanchettandJudi Dench; she followed with the critical darlingAtonement. Temple had small and supporting roles in blockbustersThe Dark Knight Rises, Maleficentand its sequelMaleficent: Mistress of Evil, as well asSin City: A Dame to Kill For.
Television is where Temple has found starring roles thanks to series includingFargo, HBO’s short-livedVinylandDirty John. However, she’s best known for playing Keeley, earning an Emmy nomination for her sensitive and nuanced take on the character.
Ahead of the 2021 Emmys, Temple said she was grateful for theTed Lassoteam and her costars, calling them her “second family,” but that she was alsoapprehensive about the fame she garnered from the show.
“I’m scared of all this s—,” she told PEOPLE. “It’s something I never predicted would be in my life. It is daunting and it is scary. I just love my job so much. It feels like, I just want to keep being better and better at my job.”
When costar Goldstein won the Critics' Choice Award for best supporting actor in a comedy series in March 2022, hegave Temple a sweet shout-out, telling the crowd, “Acting with Juno is like doing a scene with pure light.”
Brendan Hunt as Coach Beard
Brendan Huntstars as Coach Beard and served as an executive producer onTed Lassoafter co-creating the character in the NBC Sports shorts where Sudeikis first played the role. He taught Sudeikis about soccer while living in Amsterdam with series co-creator Joe Kelly, playingFIFAon PlayStation between improv gigs when their Boom Chicago troupe was based in the Netherlands city.
“I’ve been soccer-translating for Jason for a long-ass time,” HunttoldThe Daily Beastin 2020. “Because once I got into soccer, it was over. I was nuts. It was crazy and I became a missionary.”
OneTed Lassoscript that resonates particularly strongly for Hunt is the season 1 speech the title character gives at the dartboard, where he quotes Walt Whitman and encourages everyone to “be curious, not judgmental.”
“One thing that being curious and not judgmental does is it has an ancillary effect of reminding you that a lot of anger isn’t really worth it,” Hunt toldThe Daily Beast. “Of course, there’s some that is. There’s some that’s been earned. But a lot of times it’s not. And a lot of times it’s just bad for you.”
Ahead ofTed Lasso’s final season, Hunt appeared onCelebrity Jeopardy!and earned thehighest Coryat score(total winnings excluding wagers) in the entire series with a sum of $35,600. It was also the 22nd-highest Coryat score out of allJeopardy!episodes from across all of the show’s spinoffs.
ThoughTed Lassohas come to an end, Huntjoked to Deadlinethat there could be more Coach Beard in the future. “It would be all about Beard in a new band he starts and they go to a different tropical location each episode,” he said. “I talked to Tim Cook about and he’s pretty excited so I think that’s going to happen.”
In March 2024, Hunt and his fiancée, Shannon Nelson, welcomed their second child, sonArchibald Felix Nelson Hunt. The couple’s elder son, Sean, was born in January 2021.
Nick Mohammed as Nathan “Nate the Great” Shelley
Nick Mohammed gained international acclaim when he debuted as Nathan “Nate the Great” Shelley inTed Lasso, but he’s been a beloved comedy fixture in his native U.K. for more than a decade.
Mohammed studied violin and piano as a child, then became a professional magician at age 16. He served as president of the Bradford Magic Circle for the 2008–2009 period and still performs with the group.
He then majored in geophysics at Durham University in England; he was rejected from the school’s sketch comedy troupe the Durham Revue — but as it turns out, he wouldn’t need them anyway. While studying for his seismology Ph.D. at Cambridge University’s Magdalene College, Mohammed joined the Footlights theater troupe and began performing gigs on tour with the group.
Mohammed then ventured into solo performances, including a one-man show at The Fringe Festival in 2005 calledBack In Town Again: - Waltzing out of town. Out of just three audience members, one was an agent,with whom Mohammed still works today. He’s performed several more solo shows since at the festival, includingThe Forer Factor(2006),4uarters(2007),Nick Mohammed Is A Character Comedian(2008) andApollo 21(2009).
After signing with his agent, Mohammed began working in television with roles in series likeLife’s Too ShortandThe King Is Deadand sketch showSorry I’ve Got Not Head, as well as in radio on BBC Radio 4’sQuartersandNick Mohammed In Bits.
Mohammed lives in London’s Richmond neighborhood, whereTed Lassois based, but didn’t move there for the series.
“It’s a weird old thing getting recognized and definitely something I’m still getting used to,” hetoldThe Guardianof adjusting to global fame. “Lots of people are pretty angry with Nate too, given how the last season ofTed Lassoended — so managing that has been fun.”
Mohammed told PEOPLE that Nate’s arc in the series gave him lots of opportunities to stretch his acting chops.
“It was fun in a sense that, as an actor, you relish an opportunity to try something different,” he said. “It was certainly challenging in that if I had a comfort area, it was in doing the slightly bumbling, awkward Nate, which I was able to find my way through that a lot easier because there were lots of jokes written into that. But then increasingly in Season 2, there were less written jokes for Nate and a lotmore emotional dramatic driven plots for him, and particularly the latter half of Season 2, so it was definitely challenging.”
He added, “And then to find myself be the villain of the piece, I guess second to Rupert, who’s the ultimate villain … it’s a fun place to start season 3 from, that’s for sure.”
Phil Dunster as Jamie Tartt
When Phil Dunster, who stars as the obnoxious but inwardly vulnerable Jamie Tartt, was a kid growing up in Northampton, U.K., he thought sports were in his future — but not soccer.
Dunster told PEOPLE that hegave Jamie a Manchester accentin part thanks to inspiration from his girlfriend, filmmaker Eleanor Hayden, and her mother, as well as brothers Liam and Noel Gallagher of Oasis.
“It’s quite nasally when they talk. It’s like [everything] goes through the nose,” he said of the accent. “For me, it’s just as much about attitude. The accent, it’s an inner-city accent. It has to be quick.” He added, “My girlfriend’s mom is born and raised in Manchester, and so I was worried that their family is going to be disowning me, but they were part of sort of my cultural references. I’ve put them in the boat with me.”
Toheeb Jimoh as Sam Obisanya
Toheeb Jimoh plays star midfielder Sam Obisanya onTed Lasso. Season 2 was a major breakthrough for both Jimoh and his character, as he pursued a romantic relationship with Waddingham’s Rebecca despite their differences in age and race — and both of those differences faded into the background as the series simply focused on who they are as individuals.
“There’s so much that could have been drawn out or milked about the storyline where you have a young black athlete dating an older white woman, and that just isn’t important,” Jimohtold Deadline. “Who they are as people is the most important thing.”
“A lot of people probably diminish my Britishness. But then it’s funny sometimes when I go to Nigeria, people look at me as though I’m British because of the way I sound,” Jimohtold BritishGQ. “There are times where you kind of feel like you fall in between that crack. With my generation, there’s a real resurgence of people who make being Black British its own thing. That’s kind of where I found myself.”
As a soccer lover, Jimoh plays off-screen as well, and it’s proven to be entertaining toTed Lassoviewers who spot him in real life.
“The fans that you get from the show are really heartwarming people who just want to show you love and they’re proud of your journey,” he told Deadline, adding that fans often like watching him play soccer with his friends. “They stand and watch to see if I’m really any good and to see if the stunts on the show are CGI or not.”
In March 2023, Jimoh, spoke aboutthe friendships he’s madewith the rest of the cast.
“We really have bonded. I think you can tell from the way we interact with each other, wherever we go, that there’s a real genuine connection between all of us,” Jimoh told PEOPLE. “I think a lot of that was, on season 2, we were filming during a pandemic. There was a time where people couldn’t be around each other. Thankfully, I think we all saved each other.”
Cristo Fernández as Dani Rojas
Cristo Fernández doesn’t just play a soccer player onTed Lasso— he’s a former pro footballer. Fernández began playing for the Mexican League’s Guadalajara Estudiantes Tecos Club when he was just 15 years old. A career-ending injury, however, forced him to pivot his goals.
“My grandma and my mom used to say, ‘Cristóbal only speaks, breaths, talks, dreams, everything fútbol’ — soccer was literally my life,” hetold NBC News.
He began studying screenwriting at the University of Guadalajara, which led to him acting in his projects simply because he couldn’t find anyone else to act in his videos — and he quickly began acting in other students' films as well. When he graduated, he moved to England to pursue his master’s degree and worked as a bartender to make ends meet. He acted in small indies but didn’t find much work in the U.K. before landing the role of Dani Rojas.
He previously told PEOPLE thatTed LassoSeason 3 is “worth the wait” and that he’s very thankful for the friendships he’s cultivated on set, especially with Sudeikis.
“He’s very good, and what I realized is,we’ve become a family, and they encourage that vibe, that environment, to keep it there,” he said. “And I think it’s the spirit ofTed Lasso. They understand that. And I think that’s part of the success.”
Sarah Niles as Dr. Sharon Fieldstone
Sarah Niles earned an Emmy nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her Season 2 arc inTed Lassoas sports psychologist Dr. Sharon Fieldstone — but it wasn’t the first time she’d appeared in a critically acclaimed series.
Niles starred in three episodes of Micaela Coel’sI May Destroy Youas Officer Funmi, appeared inThe Sandmanas Rosemary and, in 2022, starred in the drama seriesRiches. Still, she’s likely best known for her straight-talking shrink.
Despite being a superb foil for the title character on the show, Niles was actually a late convert toTed Lasso, having not seen the first season before her agent approached her during the COVID-19 pandemic to star in Season 2.
“This just kind of landed on my lap,” sherecalled toThe New York Times. “And then when I watched the show, I was like: ‘Please, dear God, I need to get this job. I need to get this job.’ "
NilestoldThe Hollywood Reporterthat her character’s relative stoicism proved to be a challenge when juxtaposed with Ted Lasso’s constant cheer, calling Dr. Fieldstone “one of the hardest roles” she ever played — but well worth it.
“I love that character, and she’s taught me to trust in myself, warts and all,” she said. “I feel like there’s so much more I can do, and I’m really excited.”
Jeremy Swift as Leslie Higgins
Jeremy Swift’s bumbling Brit Leslie Higgins is one of the series' most positive characters outside of Ted Lasso himself, but Swift previously played a much more stern character on another beloved show: He was butler Septimus Spratt inDownton Abbey.
Acknowledging that fans sometimes don’t realize he’s played both roles, hetoldVulture, “I love that, because I love characters. That’s what I love to do. It probably doesn’t help my career, but I personally love that people don’t recognize me from one thing to another.”
Swift’s real-life wife, Mary Roscoe, plays Higgins' wife, Julie, inTed Lasso. She originally auditioned for a bit part called Old Lady and didn’t get it, then read for several others.
“We kind of forgot about it, but a few weeks later Bill came up to me and asked if I’d worked with my wife before, and if so, did we get along,” Swift, who met his wife on a previous project, recalled toVulture. “I was trying to play it cool, like, ‘Oh yeah, whatever, catch you later.’ But inside I was like, ‘Oh my God, this is amazing!’ "
source: people.com
