It’s been a minute since viewers last caught a glimpse of “Ted Lasso,” but the beloved Apple TV series is finally returning with a long-awaited new season, more than three years after what was intended as the final episode.
Now, a new trailer brings fans a sneak peek at the new season, which brings Ted (Jason Sudeikis) back from Kansas City to Richmond.
Recruited by Rebecca (Hannah Waddingham), Leslie (Jeremy Swift) and Keeley (Juno Temple), Ted is lured back to take a new coaching position — not with Richmond AFC, but with the franchise’s female soccer team. Can the Ted Lasso magic help these underfunded, overlooked underdogs achieve glory on the soccer pitch?
Return to Richmond
“Ted returns to Richmond, taking on his biggest challenge yet: coaching a second division women’s football team,” teases the synopsis.
“Throughout the course of the season, Ted and the team learn to leap before they look, taking chances they never thought they would.”
A Massive Hit with Viewers
When “Ted Lasso” made its debut on Apple TV back in 2020, the series quickly rocketed to the top of the streaming charts.
Over the course of its first three seasons, the show was racked up more than 25 billion minutes of viewership.
An Unexpected Comeback
The third season was meant to be the last — so why did Sudeikis (both star and series co-creator) decided to uncancel his own series?
Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter, Sudeikis insisted that his plan had always been to tell Ted Lasso’s story over three seasons. Despite how lucrative the series had become for him — he was earning $1M per episode, and offered significantly more to continue — he simply felt the saga had played out.
“That wasn’t a negotiation tactic,” Sudeikis said. “The story was told. Ted went home [to Kansas City] to be with his son. I wasn’t going to have Ted uproot their life to justify the money truck. It made no sense to me.”
An Unexpected Comeback
But then, in early 2024, Sudeikis had an epiphany that caused him to reverse course. “I was like, ‘Oh, I don’t know if it’s done,’” he remembered, which led him to set up a meeting with the “Ted Lasso” creative team.
“We were just kind of kicking the tires on it — or, as we were saying at the time, checking the viability of the soil,” added Brendan Hunt, the series’ co-creator, who also plays Coach Beard. As they spitballed ideas, the concept of Ted coaching a women’s soccer team began to take flight.
“It all seems easy now, but it was hard because it’s not a spinoff,” explained Brett Goldstein, a member of the writing team who also does double duty in front of the camera as soccer-star-turned-coach Roy Kent. “You’re like, it’s not ‘Frasier;’ ‘Cheers’ still exists — it’s more like you’re adding a room to the bar.
When Will ‘Ted Lasso’ Return?
The fourth season of “Ted Lasso” premieres with the debut episode on Wednesday, August 5.
The remaining nine episodes appear one at a time on subsequent Wednesdays, with the finale dropping on October 7.
