Believe it or not, “Ted Lasso” will, at long last, come back for a third season.
Apple TV+ announced Tuesday that Jason Sudeikis’s soccer and positivity-fueled comedy will return for a third season on Wednesday, March 15. The first three episodes will be available on premiere day, followed by new episodes weekly, every Wednesday.
It’s been a long wait. The last time fans saw new episodes of “Lasso,” about an aggressively chipper American football coach (Sudeikis) who is transplanted to the world of British professional soccer, was October of 2021.
As you pull your shin guards on and get ready for a third season, here’s everything you need know about the return of “Lasso,” including whether or not this could be the end of our time with Richmond AFC.
What is ‘Ted Lasso’ about?
Apple TV+’s infectious comedy stars Sudeikis as the eponymous American football coach fumbling his way through leading an English soccer team. The series was inspired by a character Sudeikis created to promote NBC’s broadcasting of Premier League soccer matches in ads. Hired by Rebecca (Hannah Waddingham), the new owner of the Richmond team after a nasty divorce with her rich husband Rupert (Anthony Head), initially everyone, Rebecca included, believes Ted will fail. But he proves a better coach and mentor for the men on his team than anyone could have expected.
By the end of Season 2, Ted has helped his team get back into the Premier League after a season of being relegated, but he’s also lost one of his assistant coaches and friends, Nate (Nick Mohammed), whose anger with Ted caused him to leave Richmond and coach Rupert’s new juggernaut team, West Ham United.
“Lasso,” created by Sudeikis, Bill Lawrence (“Scrubs”), Brendan Hunt and Joe Kelly, won seven Emmy Awards for its debut season and four more last year for its sophomore effort, including back-to-back wins for outstanding comedy series.
What to expect in ‘Ted Lasso’ Season 3
The long wait between “Lasso” seasons has been exacerbated by the cliffhanger that left fans reeling after the finale of Season 2 in 2021.
According to a news release, after Nate leaves Richmond, Roy Kent (Brett Goldstein) steps up as coach alongside Beard (Brendan Hunt), while Ted tries to deal with stress in his work and home life and manage his mental health. Rebecca is laser focused on defeating Rupert while Keeley (Juno Temple) has departed the team to start her own public relations firm and has new pressures to deal with. “Things seem to be falling apart both on and off the pitch, but Team Lasso is set to give it their best shot anyway,” the release reads.
Co-creator Lawrence told USA TODAY earlier this year to expect great things from the season, which is being helmed by Sudeikis personally this year.
“Jason is a perfectionist, and I have tons of confidence in him,” Lawrence said. “He’ll knock it out of the park, but not under weird time constraints that don’t mean anything to anyone other than streaming sites.”
Watch a teaser for ‘Ted Lasso’ Season 3
Will ‘Ted Lasso’ end after Season 3?
In interviews over the years, Sudeikis has only spoken about “Lasso” as far as a third season, as he and his co-creators imagined the series in three parts.
“We sort of modeled (the structure) after the British ‘Office,'” he told USA TODAY in 2021 ahead of Season 2’s release. “That was this three-act structure that I always had in my head,” although “anything is possible, and really the story, and more specifically the characters, let you know if there’s more there. So I imagine that will be a conversation.”
Apple, however, has not given any official indication about how many seasons “Lasso” will be.
More about ‘Ted Lasso’
Contributing: Marco della Cava
Story Credit: usatoday.com