There’s a phrase in English football about tempering expectations: “It’s the hope that kills you.” As it turns out, that phrase also extends to Ted Lasso’s fictional English football club AFC Richmond — and not only because it’s used in Ted Lasso 1×12, “The Hope that Kills You.” Deadline exclusively reports that Apple TV+ is eyeing a Season 4 renewal of the Emmy Award-winning series after Season 3 ended in June 2023, and the original cast is expected to return.
Warner Bros. Television has picked up the previously-expired options of Hannah Waddingham, Brett Goldstein, and Jeremy Swift through the UK’s acting union, Equity. After securing them, the studio is reportedly expected to reach out to cast members with expired SAG-AFTRA contracts to make new deals. Deadline explicitly names co-creators and executive producers Jason Sudeikis and Brendan Hunt, as well as Juno Temple. It mentions Phil Dunster as one of the cast members who has yet to be picked up, likely due to a conflict with another series.
Deadline’s sources detail that the returning cast is a positive step in the right direction for the show’s return. However, it is also “contingent on budget approval and scheduling as actors whose options have lapsed may have joined other series that have them in first position.” Variety reports that Sudeikis is believed to be “involved in the revival in some capacity as executive producer,” which begs the question of whether he will appear in a potential fourth season as the titular character.
Variety adds that “Warner Bros. TV declined to comment” about the developing story.
As all these details prove, this news is still very new, but early preparations for opening a writers room are happening. If all of these moving parts come together (and there are a lot), it’s possible that production on Ted Lasso Season 4 could begin in early 2025. That timeline raises questions about what that season could look like, especially given the show’s divisive third season.
Apple TV+ never confirmed whether the comedy’s third season would be a farewell one. It even sold a box set of the first three seasons with the tagline “The Lasso Way” instead of “The Complete Series.” However, Ted Lasso Season 3’s arcs mostly do.
Ted Lasso returned to Kansas to be with his son, Henry (and potentially his ex-wife Michelle. It’s all a bit vague). Rebecca Welton wound up with the Dutchman she met on a boat in Amsterdam. Jamie Tartt and Roy Kent literally fought over Keeley Jones, but she chose neither of them. Coach Beard married his infamous on-again-and-off-again girlfriend Jane. AFC Richmond famously did not “win the whole…thing,” but did beat West Ham United, owned by Rupert Mannion and coached by Nathan Shelley, and came second to Manchester City.
In a montage with an undefined timeline, Nate returned to AFC Richmond as part of its managing staff, led by Roy and featuring Beard. Plus, Keeley presented Rebecca with an idea for a new and long-overdue venture — AFC Richmond Women’s Team. So, Apple TV+ has options to move forward with storylines that don’t require Sudeikis in a full-time reprisal of his role. Likewise, narrative paths are available in case some of the cast’s other projects keep them from returning with the same presence they had in the first three seasons. However, seeing how invested Ted Lasso fans will be in another season if it doesn’t feature most fan-favorite characters will be interesting.
That said, the cast often expresses interest in continuing the show in some way. For example, in January 2023, Goldstein told Stephen Colbert, “I would happily play Roy Kent forever,” during a visit at The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. Nick Mohammed frequently jokes about a potential fourth season on X. Presumably, he posted, “told ya! 😂,” in reaction to today’s news.
Additionally, even though Sudeikis and Hunt have been open about how the planned three-season story ended with Ted Lasso 3×12, “So Long, Farwell,” Warner Bros. TV CEO Channing Dungey offered a different opinion to Variety in January.
“I mean, you watched the finale, there’s a little bit of a door that could be kicked back open if need be. I wouldn’t put the period on the end of that sentence just yet. There is still. a lot of love for Ted Lasso. And I think that there still is a lot of enthusiasm on the part of Apple for Ted Lasso. Should the opportunity arise, we’d be excited to jump back into making more…. There are always conversations ongoing, just nothing that’s official,” Dungey said.
Just earlier this month, co-creator Bill Lawrence told The Hollywood Reporter about another side of those conversations. “Even without talking to each other, and every actor, actress, writer, producer on that show — and [we didn’t get] together and decide this was the message — we all loved the experience,” Lawrence said.
“As fans, we’d all kill if it was going again, but everybody would say the same thing, which is: Whatever Jason feels like doing, and whatever his decision is, we’re all down with it. Not only is he the star, he’s the head writer, and he’s also the dude whose life just has to be completely overhauled and moved to a foreign country with young children. It’s a big deal. So, as a fan, if someone’s like, ‘Oh, it’s gonna happen again,’ I’ll go nuts. As a partner, I’m down for whatever he wants to do,” Lawrence added.
Now, it seems like those conversations are turning into actions to bring Ted Lasso back. But in what form? With what cast? With which club? With who in the writers room? All of those questions loom large over this news. Still, even with all that uncertainty, it’s easy to be excited about seeing these characters (at least some, for now) again. Alongside much-needed extensions to and explanations of that Season 3 finale montage, there’s hope for Roy and Keeley to get back together. There’s hope for Ted and Rebecca to realize they’re in love with each other. There’s hope for AFC Richmond to actually “win the whole…thing” this time. There’s hope because we’re “Richmond ‘til we die!” So, maybe, it’s not the hope that kills us after all.
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Ted Lasso is streaming on Apple TV+.
