Mince pie or Christmas pudding? That’s the question which the Ted Lasso cast must answer in a teasing trailer released this week by Apple TV+. For those eager to know the answers, Jason Sudeikis suggests throwing both Christmas treats in the garbage; Hannah Waddingham thinks Christmas Pudding is the ‘most revolting thing ever’, and Brendan Hunt admits he’s no idea what either are.
Regardless of the actors’ culinary tastes, what I want to know is why are Apple TV+ serving us teasing trailers, alongside Hannah Waddingham’s Home For Christmas show in which the rest of the Ted Lasso cast turn up unexpectedly? Is it to keep us hooked in anticipation of more Ted Lasso? Is it because they are keeping us primed and ready for a Season 4? Is it because they are dropping Season 4 hints? What exactly, are Apple TV+ playing at?
Trading in my white Ted Lasso sun visor for a Sherlock Holmes hat, I went on a mission for clues to answer that question. Ted Lasso has been Apple TV’s most successful show ever. It’s won eleven Emmys and world-wide critical acclaim. There are now millions of die-hard Ted Lasso fans wearing fake moustaches like me all over the world. It’s hard to imagine Apple TV+ wanting to lose us. A Season 4 is a no-brainer, surely?
When Jason Sudeikis and Brendan Hunt, co-creators of the show, mapped out the comedy about an American football coach in England, they always intended it to have a three-season arc. They’ve said that enough times, we all have it word perfect at this stage. But they have also both admitted that they’d never expected the show to be as successful as it’s become either and ever since the last episode of Season 3 aired there has been speculation about a fourth season.
“Thank you for your hard work, and I sure hope there’s a Season Four,” Apple CEO Tim Cook told members of the cast when he visited the Ted Lasso set. We can deduct from that, dear Watson, that Apple are keen. That's hint number one, surely. They’ve dropped other hints too. A week after the last episode of Season 3 aired, they tweeted a photo of Coach Beard, Roy and Nate with the caption “Smells like Potential”. Director Declan Lowney also told the Hollywood Reporter: “Everybody knew it was the end, but it’s also the end for now… There’s a whole bunch of things that have been set up in the last montage in the last few minutes that are potential spin offs.” Call it wishful thinking, but that sounds optimistic to me.
What about the cast? Are they giving anything away? “Nothing has been ruled out, everything is possible; but that includes the possibility that we’re done. We won’t know until we’ve sat with it for a while, decompressed etc,” co-creator Brendan Hunt, better known as Coach Beard, said at the end of filming Season 3. Nick Mohamed, who plays Nate, was equally mysterious: “Who knows if it’s the very, very end or not, or whether there’ll be more after a break. I don’t know whether it comes back as a film. I’ve heard rumors of a spinoff. Who knows?”
Jason Sudeikis himself has always insisted that the three-season story is done, but has never ruled out the possibility of a spin off or some other type of continuation. “It sounds like such a political answer, but it’s the truth. We only conceived these three seasons, then this thing became this big old thing.”
Secret confession: Even though I have watched the show dozens of times already, I sometimes sneak an episode now and again when no one’s looking. I find comfort in it when the world seems stressful. I know I am not alone in this because thanks to social media, I talk to others who in solidarity with Sudeikis, would also throw their mince pies in the garbage if it meant persuading him to do a Season 4.
Now that the Hollywood writer’s strike is over, persuading Sudeikis seems to be key, and Hannah Waddingham, aka Rebecca, probably has a better chance than the rest of us in doing that. She has told him in no uncertain terms that she wants more. She’s so keen, she’s getting a greyhound tattoo, in honor of the Greyhound team at the center of the show. That’s commitment for you.
But who knows how far a Greyhound tattoo will get you? The only thing she’s adamant about is she’s not interested in any kind of spin-off if it doesn’t include Ted Lasso, sometimes known as Jason Sudeikis, though in my eyes the two are easily confused. “I have made it quite clear that unless Ted was in it… I can’t imagine a world where Rebecca exists without Ted because they are each other’s inspiration,” she says.
Which is all very well, but what about us in our world without both of you? The only solution is to eat another mince pie in front of the Ted Lasso Christmas episode and just hope Apple TV+ are not just playing us for fools.