‘Ted Lasso’: Brendan Hunt Explains Season 4 Changes & Reveals Where the Characters Are Now

Welcome back, old friend. The power of “Believe” has resurrected Apple TV’s beloved comedy Ted Lasso after a three-year hiatus, with 10 episodes that see Coach Ted Lasso (Jason Sudeikis) returning to the pitch for a new venture: launching AFC Richmond’s second-division women’s football team. It’s an uphill battle for respect, kits, and even a decent locker room. But first, we find Ted in the U.S., where he’s been lying low for the past three years. “He’s taken a step back,” teases Brendan Hunt, series co-creator and Lasso’s onscreen BFF Coach Beard. “He can afford a less stressful job that gives him time to be with his son. [But] the question becomes, ‘Is this all he wants?’ And then along comes the wind of opportunity.”

Literally, as his Richmond family — boss Rebecca (Hannah Waddingham), PR maven Keeley (Juno Temple), and comms director Higgins (Jeremy Swift) — fly in to convince him to come back. And of course, Coach Roy Kent (Brett Goldstein) is waiting to greet him when he finally does return across the pond.

The series also welcomes back many other returning favorites, as well as a whole new slew of cast members, including Tanya Reynolds, Jude Mack, Faye Marsay, Rex Hayes, Aisling Sharkey, Abbie Hern, and Grant Feely.

Below, we spoke with Hunt about what’s next in the unexpected fourth season and more.

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Season 4 begins with a major time jump and life changes for many of the show’s characters. Why do you feel that those changes were necessary to continue this story?

Brendan Hunt: On some level like, it has been time, so let’s not pretend it hasn’t. We saw all these [characters] really go through something, and they’ve had time to let it settle inside them, [so we ask,] “Who are they now?” It’s cool to see, and you know, nothing changes completely. But everything’s just a little bit different now, and they’re different because of what we’ve seen them share together.

Can you tease where Ted is at the beginning of Season 4, when we find him back in his home area?

The biggest thing is that he’s conspicuously not coaching. He refers to having previously coached his son Henry in soccer for a little while, but then coming to feel that coaching and being a dad sometimes have conflicting missions. And so, he’s really taken a step back in life from anything, for lack of a better word, prominent. We assume that he’s got enough money in his pocket from his sweet Premier League gig that he can afford a less stressful job working for his old buddy.

And we know from the photo that circulated during filming that Rebecca, Keeley, and Higgins go to visit Ted. How great was it to see these three characters experience a bit of America?

Pretty fantastic. In a way, it was like plopping Rebecca into Amsterdam, and just putting these characters into stuff that we take for granted [in the United States]. Jason in particular was like, “I think we’ve got to make Rebecca love barbecue, just love it.” And once we had that, we were off.

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Your Coach Beard is still busy coaching alongside Roy, so we don’t see him right away. Can you tease his reappearance in Season 4?

When we see Beard, he’s definitely had some kind of change since last we saw him. And you can tell by looking at him, it’s probably not from a positive place. But is it because of stuff going on in his relationship at home, or is it because he is just incomplete without Ted? That’s in the eyes of the beholder a little bit, but he definitely could use the life jostle that Ted’s return would provide.

What’s the biggest difference as the focus shifts from the men’s team to this new women’s team?

The Premier League is the most successful league in the world — it’s glitz and glamor. And now, we are not just in the Women’s League, but we are in the second-tier of the Women’s League. We’re getting into the mud and the grime of it, that climb of football. That was appealing to explore.

Women’s football, particularly at the second division level, is under-funded. They have the good luck of being attached to a Premier League team, but still, they’ve got their own budget. And they don’t play in a big stadium. They play where the men train. Everything’s just rather humble all around. And being a brand new team, they also do not yet have the grassroots support of an affectionate community. To some degree, [they’re] looked at with suspicion by the people of Richmond, who not entirely correctly fear that this team will drain resources from their beloved men’s team. So, they’re seen as outsiders in their own home. They’ve got to win people over, but they can’t just do it on their own. It’s going to take the whole club coming together to do it. And obviously a lot of that rests on PR and the things that Keeley does.

Keeley and Roy were apart at the end of Season 3 romantically. Can you tease where we see them in Season 4?

They clearly had something pretty deep going on when they were together. [Jokingly] And I don’t know what that’s like, because I’ve never thought about a single ex of mine ever, not for a moment. I’m sure you haven’t either. You know, it’s always a clean break. [Laughs] But you know, they work in the same building still. And if you’re working in the same building long enough, well, maybe you look back at things and you wonder what you could have done differently. And that might be what’s coming down the pike for those two.

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And how is Rebecca feeling about the new women’s team and the struggles they face?

In a vacuum? She’s honored, she’s delighted. She feels like she’s doing the right thing for her people and her community. But then, in the specifics of it, she has to deal with the bigger picture in a way that that Keeley [does] not. Rebecca has a slightly more palpable sense of how money works — Keeley is all ideas right now. And so there is an inherent tension that is growing between the dreamer and the pragmatist. Rebecca is going to have to navigate that as she goes along.

Ted Lasso Season 4 Premiere, Wednesday, August 5, Apple TV