Surprising news was revealed at the end of August: Ted Russo will likely return for Season 4.
We were shocked to learn that three of the main cast members were signed on for a new season. However, Apple has yet to make an official statement.
The show put Apple TV+ on the map and even made some Americans care about football for the first time. It concluded its third season in May 2023, with the final episode looking and feeling like a series finale.
Apple didn’t advertise or announce it was the final season or episode. However, industry reports claim that star Jason Sudeikis hopes to complete the series within three years.
The series ends with a happy ending for most of the characters. Ted Russo (Sudeikis) resigned as head coach of AFC Richmond and returned to the United States to reunite with his son.
Even co-creator Bill Lawrence is the creator of Apple’s current series Bad Monkeys. This shows that the creative team has moved on as well.
But now, it looks like Ted Russo is coming back. No timetable has been revealed for when production will begin or when it will return.
I don’t mind if the show ends the way it does, or if the quality is a little spotty, especially in season three. Reports that Jamie Tartt has been left out due to the absence of actor Phil Dunst are not true. quite Also a deal breaker.
My main gripe with Ted Russo’s return is that the show is tied to a very specific time period that has since passed. If it comes back, it will arrive in a completely different world.
Ted’s History
The Ted Lasso character first appeared in a series of NBC ads in 2013, when the network first acquired the rights to broadcast the Premier League.
Seven years later, the concept of an approachable Midwestern football coach taking over an English football club was adapted for television.
The exact timing of Ted Lasso’s debut is crucial to understanding its appeal: the show arrived on Apple TV+ in August 2020, when the pandemic was still raging and most people had been stuck at home for months and in dire need of positivity .
All Ted Lasso’s performance and character offer is positivity.
Ted Lasso is friendly and helpful, and he portrays optimistic masculinity at a time when most viewers could use a little positive reinforcement.
There’s even a term, “Nicecore,” which refers to shows and movies that center on people being nice to each other.
When Season 2 airs in the summer of 2021, things are improving as far as COVID-19 is concerned, but we’re not completely out of the woods yet.
After chaos and reports of reshoots, Ted Russo won’t return for season three until the summer of 2023.
Even so, it feels like a bit of an off-screen show, in part due to some confusing creative choices, not least the show’s decision to keep key moments off-screen.
Of course, the show managed to preserve the ending, even though we now know it wasn’t the ending after all.
Too much Nicecore
Even back in Season 2, however, problems arose. Ted Russo’s writers seem to have an inherent bias toward character growth, everyone improving, and everyone getting along.
Parks and Recreation faced similar problems at the end of its operations. The writers love all the characters so much that there is rarely any lasting conflict.
In a way, it’s back to the beginning. The initial premise of “Ted Lasso” is similar to the movie “Major League Baseball” – Rebecca (Hannah Waddingham) seems to hire Ted to tank the team and screw up the team she hates ‘s ex-husband.
Still, the showrunners decided early on that they liked Rebecca and that she wasn’t going to be a villain. Roy Kent has an edge but slowly grows up and becomes friendlier. So does Jamie Tate.
Zawa, the brash superstar player who arrived at Richmond in the third season, suddenly disappeared and never returned.
Even Nate (Nick Muhammad), who became the series’ primary villain and antagonist at the end of Season 2, got redemption that came too quickly, too easily.
long wait
If Ted Russo does get a fourth season, it will have to be written and produced, and that will take time; it’s possible we won’t see it until 2025 or even 2026.
We don’t know what American culture and attitudes will be like back then, but we’re already a long way from the cultural moment Ted Lasso was in when he debuted in 2020.
There’s a good chance we’ll be further apart when the show returns.
Does this mean Ted Russo can’t make it?
Of course it can, and I’m willing to be wrong.
But if it comes back as a nostalgia drama, it’s for the summer of 2020, a summer not many people are so eager to remember.
What do you think? Are you eager to see more of Ted Lasso’s work?
Share your thoughts in the comments below.
