Spoiler alert for season three of Ted Lasso: There will be no mass casualties.
“It’s not like Thanos is in it and half of us die,” co-creator, executive producer and actor Brendan Hunt joke about THR on the third and possibly – as widely speculated – final season of the show. “Most of us will probably still be alive anyway.”
Hunt spoke to THR from London, where production for season three is coming to an end, on the rerun of the Apple TV+ series and new Emmy nominations, criticism of season two and what’s to come for the series.
Congratulations on the repeated nomination for Best Comedy Series. I can imagine it’s gratifying to see a number of other cast members nominated this year, along with the people repeating it.
They’re all satisfying, but it’s really cool that there are so many first-timers. Also the guest category. [Guest stars James Lance, Sam Richardson and Harriet Walter received noms.] For three of the gang – they are guests, but still the gang – it was also fantastic to get in. And for Sarah [Niles] and Toheeb [Jimoh] to be added, it was pretty awesome.
As season two ran, there was much talk about the apparent suddenness of Nate’s (Nick Mohammed) heel turn. But when I went through it again, it felt like the seeds were there. Did that criticism surprise you?
In terms of people picking it up, Nate’s breadcrumbs, we knew they were there, but we can’t control whether people see them or not. While people went along and said, “What’s happening to Nate?!” It’s been happening to him since season one. People commenting on it, that’s great, because it means people care. That people are crazy or think we’re doing something that’s not deserved, well, I disagree, but go ahead. But I think we dropped hints – we were afraid we’d drop hints that were too revealing, but for a lot of people it was the other way around.
In the final episode, when Nate really lashes out at Ted (Jason Sudeikis) and leaves, do you feel like it’s something Ted will really struggle with, or does he realize Nate’s state of mind at the time?
I can’t talk too much about it, but I think every time Ted hears criticism, he takes it on board. But personally, I think that Nate’s outburst, as far as Ted is concerned, is so out of the blue that you think, ‘This isn’t about me. It’s about what’s going on at the time.” This wasn’t something we talked about in the room, but my two cents is that when someone has such an outburst at you, you can’t respond logically because it doesn’t make sense. I think Ted the empath recognized that at the time. And the rest also came to an end (laughs), so what could you do? And before he could do anything about it, Nate made his move.
I want to ask about your showcase episode, “Beard After Hours.” How do you find a balance between paying tribute to the film but also giving more insight into the character of Coach Beard?
It didn’t turn out to be such a tribute in the end, because we handled it differently. But After hours was definitely the starting point – we knew it was going to be a crazy night out and that he would still show up at work in the morning in whatever form he might get there. The balance of how much to reveal with Beard is always the thing because what’s fun about him is the mystery of him. If you give away too much about him, you risk destroying one of the most important things that are cool about him. We haven’t given too much information. We just showed what we think is a non-atypical night out for him, so he just rolled with it.
Ted Lasso has the backbone of a sports show, but it’s also about a number of other things. How do you go about mapping that and keeping everything in balance in terms of story?
When you’re making an episode or watching a character’s arc, we only need to do it one thing at a time. In the most literal way you pull out your index cards for the stories, and the blue cards are the Ted story for this episode, and the pink cards are Rebecca [Hannah Waddingham]and the yellow cards are Nate, the green cards are Roy [Brett Goldstein]. Then it’s about finding the intersections of it all. You have to break it down into its smallest parts, and once you have those bits of story, there’s a natural sense of rhythm in it, starting with whoever writes that script and ending with the latest draft. We can’t start an episode by trying to frame the whole mosaic. We have to go tile by tile.
Courtesy of AppleTV+
Was there anything in season two that you initially didn’t plan on doing, but turned out well?
The episode “Beard” is an example. To get [soccer icons] Thierry Henry and Gary Lineker for that episode was a massive coup. It wasn’t them in the original script, they were just talking heads in general. Then it was them in the script, and then it was them in real life because they agreed to do it. Gary Lineker had then come out in support of the show on Twitter, which was nice of him. And Thierry Henry actually knows Jason a little bit, so Jason knew he would like the show too. But having them on board and hanging out with them a bit in the green room and talking about football, that was a fun day. “I’m never going to give up on you” [which the team sings at Rebecca’s father’s funeral] was in the first draft of that episode that Jane [Becker] turned in. But you never know what will disappear. It was one of a list of songs that matched the profile of what we wanted at the time. Sometimes a placeholder never lets go of that place. Largely thanks to Hannah and MJ [Delaney]who directed that episode, and AJ [Catoline], who edited it, it just came across so well. And the grace of Rick Astley – not only did he let us use the song, but he also said, “Use the song, use the video, use it.” He gave the opposite of resistance.
There are many reports that season three will be it for the series. Did you write it as a full ending, or would there be a way to continue?
We’re writing an ending for this three-part part that we’ve always seen, but it’s not like Thanos is in it and half of us die. Most of us will probably still be alive anyway, so I don’t think leaving out a way out is anything to worry about. It’s just a matter of if we do this differently and when. But right now we have to get through this mishegasand then we’ll have a clearer head to see what the future holds.
What can people expect next season?
What shows usually do in season three: we all adopt a child. A bunch of adopted kids running around. It’s really getting more Oliver! thing – Oliver exclamation mark. No – the team has to deal with the reality of going back to the Premier League where we are minnows again. We are minus our smartest tactical mind, and we know how the Premier League structure works, we have to play West Ham twice, so Nate and Rupert [Anthony Head] lurk. We might also be able to see a little bit of what’s going on at West Ham.
Interview edited for length and clarity.
This story first appeared in a standalone August issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine.