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We have seen so-called limited series revoking their label to get a second season after their initial season became a massive success. But a series vocally establishing their supposed three-season-arc, how it was all supposed to come to an end the way it did, and proudly airing the series finale, only to aim for another season? Well, Ted Lasso seems to have pulled a Ted Lasso.
It has been exclusively reported by Deadline that Warner Bros. Television has picked up the options on the three original cast members Hannah Waddingham as AFC Richmond owner Rebecca Walton, Brett Goldstein as hardman Roy Kent, and Jeremy Swift, who plays Director of Football Operations Leslie Higgins. Jason Sudeikis is also involved in extending the life of the show, though his contract, as well as that of Brendan Hunt and Juno Temple, has expired, so the studio will be drawing new SAG-AFTRA contracts for them.
It remains uncertain whether the likes of Phil Dunster and Nick Mohammed will also be returning to season 4 of Ted Lasso, though the majority of the cast has expressed interest in reprising their respective roles in the future. But that was when Ted Lasso could do no wrong and its sinking season 3 wasn’t supposed to get a follow-up.
But why is Ted Lasso getting a season 4?
It’s not just that the season 3 finale was explicitly and officially the series finale — there is also the sentiment, shoehorned multiple times by various cast members including series creator and star Sudeikis, that the Apple TV Plus show was always, always supposed/destined/decided to be a three-season deal.
Back in March 2023, Sudeikis clearly told Deadline that “this is the end of this story that we wanted to tell, that we were hoping to tell, that we loved to tell.” Goldstein also stressed that “the show was always intended to have a three-season arc” and Hunt defined “pretty cool” to EW by saying how they were going to “stick to our guns and really just do three seasons.”
Uhm. Okay, it might all be the fault of Sudeikis’ self-fulfilling prophecy.
In his chat with Deadline, Sudeikis acknowledged the persevering love for the show and how fans wanted it to run longer. But, underlining and repeating the three-season lifeline of the series he hoped that once all 12 episodes of the season 3 were out, fans would be like “Man, you know what, we get it, we’re fine. We don’t need anymore, we got it.’”
That’s exactly what happened.
While hardcore fans of Ted Lasso refused to accept that its plot lost its thread in the third season and bloated episodes him haphazard character arcs infected its run, the majority of the fandom admitted with a broken heart that yes, after two glorious seasons that won multiple Emmy and Golden Globes, the sports comedy had bungled the ball and didn’t just lose its spark but dunked it in the kiddy pool.
So, either Warner Bros’ wants to cash in on what remains of the enduring love for the series, or the desperation to right the wrongs and end the show with a bang is the cause, or it could be both. In either scenario, long-standing fans of Ted Lasso will sit down to watch its new season whenever it lands. The big question is whether it will end with fixing what it broke or leave behind an even bigger chasm that can never be overcome, triggering ire-filled questions of whether Lasso and team shouldn’t have risked the lukewarm goodbye they got?