The ‘Ted Lasso’ Cast Loves Reactions to Their Characters

Ted Lasso is a show that brought Ted (Jason Sudeikis) to London to be the coach of the Richmond Greyhounds. Despite his lack of knowledge in football as a sport, he was still there to talk to the team and coach them into being the best they could be. So when season 3 came to an end and it seemed like this would be goodbye to Ted in Richmond, it was a bit upsetting. For a number of reasons but mainly because we love these characters and don’t want to say goodbye.

During the season, I was lucky enough to talk to some of the cast prior to the show’s end and while I didn’t know how the series was going to end, I did have a feeling this might be the end. So we talked a lot about their characters, fan reactions to their arcs, and what their journeys have been like to explore in the show as a whole.

In talking with Phil Dunster, Nick Mohammed, James Lance, Jeremy Swift, and more, we all talked about where we started in season 1 through season 3, and hopes for their characters in the future. After talking to them, I hope we get to see more of them throughout a show not centered around Ted but even if this was the end for the franchise as a whole, at least we had some great talks with actors we love about characters and a show that means a lot to us all!

Jamie’s story shouldn’t be done yet

If you told me in season 1 that Jamie Tartt would be my favorite character by season 3, I would have called you a liar. And yet throughout season 3, we watched how Jamie grew into a man who respected those around him and wanted to be better. It was incredible to see and many fans, myself included, wanted there to be a new show announced that had Jamie front and center. When I asked Dunster about the future of Jamie Tartt and what he hopes he does emotionally, I was clear in what he wanted for the character.

“I hope he learns to love himself,” he said. “To continue,I don’t maybe like learn to help other people in the way that he has been taught himself. Maybe take on a role, you know, if there was, this isn’t me. So there’s anything going off after season three? I dunno. But if there was, you know, season six where let’s say he becomes a coach or something though, that would be fun to see. How he would then impart that wisdom onto the other people would be interesting.”

You can see our full chat here:

There’s more to Nate

Nick Mohammed has brought Nate the Great to life from season 1 into his villain arc in season 2 and finally coming back to the Greyhounds by the end of the season. While that was a full circle story, there is a lot to work through with Nate’s feelings and his arc and it’d be nice to explore that deeper in his own show or with a future Ted Lasso inspired series. When I spoke with him, I asked him about bringing Nate’s arc as a whole to life throughout the show.

“It’s been, ultimately, it’s been a challenge,” he said. “I think I found the sort of season one version of Nate was, you know, largely a comedic role and there was some real fun to be had with that and certainly something that I found a lot more comfortable doing. And then, yeah, I guess gradually, certainly from like the latter half of season two onwards, a lot of that comedy was largely replaced with more emotional, sort of dramatic storytelling. It’s just been such a thrill because it’s very rare that as a supporting member of a cast, you kind of get to go on such an extreme journey and so that has been a joy and I welcome the challenge as well.”

You can see our full interview here:

We’d watch a Higgins/Trent Crimm show

If anyone knows what it means to be fan favorites, it’s Jeremy Swift and James Lance. Higgins and Trent Crimm have become the talk of the town throughout the show’s run and getting to see them shine in season 3 was lovely for fans. When I spoke with Swift and Lance for the show, I asked them what their favorite bit of fan reaction was to their characters.

“There was something, I’m only on Instagram these days and somebody put tenderhearted Leslie, the true outsider, which I just thought, oh, I really like that take on the character because he is a little bit of an outsider in a way,” Swift said. “Although he sort of joins up the different bodies and he’s always with other people. But yeah, I loved that, that was a very sweet thing to say.”

For Lance, it was about fan art he saw. “For me, Billy Harris sent me a picture of some fan art the other day of Colin and Trent on the dance floor in Amsterdam. And that was a really cool thing to see because it’s just such a moment of joy between them, you know, the end of the episode. So it was great to see that bit of art. I like that.”

You can see our talk here:

This is the Richmond Way

Joining a roundtable discussion with Billy Harris, who plays Colin, Cristo Fernández who plays Dani Rojas, and Kola Bokinni who plays Isaac, I was floored by how much fun the three seem to have bringing these characters to life. So when I asked about the camaraderie that they’ve built on screen, it wasn’t that surprising that Bokinni had jokes. “Just by sheer force, grueling hours, you know, of just staring at each other in the eyes,” he said jokingly when I asked how they managed to bring their friendship to life. But then Fernández explored more of how they grew together in the three years since the show started.

“We are just lucky enough that we all connected as well in life, it’s not just going to set and that’s it,” he said. “And I know there’s been jobs where probably that can happen, but here is like, we’re always there for each other and we appreciate the friendship and the brotherhood. What you see is real. We have great moments outside of the set and on the set and we’re all in the same journey. It started by being, we were just lucky to have a job , and now we are in the third season and it’s a hit show. So we’re living the same things.”

For Harris, being in from the beginning meant seeing the group grow together from the jump. “I do think personally from being in it from the get-go, that seeing people and how they are greeted and how they are brought into the team, I watch it in amazement that everyone wants everyone to be the best version of themselves. And to be welcome and to feel loved I think is something that we do a lot on set.”

All three seasons of Ted Lasso are streaming on Apple TV+ now.

(featured image: Apple TV+