Ted Lasso returns after three years away

With the World Cup buzz still in the air, Apple TV's hit football comedy Ted Lasso is back after a three-year break. The cast said they jumped right back into it without needing any practice.

Hannah Waddingham shared with AFP at a press event, "It felt completely and utterly… effortless. Just ridiculously effortless." She was there with co-stars Jeremy Swift and Juno Temple ahead of Season 4's premiere on Wednesday.

Waddingham, who plays Rebecca Welton, the tough owner of the fictional English football club AFC Richmond, added, "I think we’ve always felt like a family from day one on this."

Swift, who plays club executive Leslie Higgins, said the cast “hit the ground running” as filming started again.

The new season of Ted Lasso, featuring Jason Sudeikis as the title character, takes the story to Kansas, the optimistic American coach's hometown. He is now managing a second-division women’s team.

This change helped the actors connect with Sudeikis’s inspiration for the show, which is one of Apple TV’s biggest hits. Temple, who plays Keeley Jones, a model turned publicist, said, "It felt like a really, really special way to come back again, to be slightly out of our comfort zone. That was great."

Temple also said it was important to "have this kind of beautiful vacation together in a place that’s both very important to Ted and very important to Jason." She described the experience as “such a fun experience for all three of us.”

Ted Lasso first aired on Apple TV in 2020 and quickly became the platform’s flagship series.

In a teaser for its return, Sudeikis and Brendan Hunt appeared as Lasso and his assistant, Coach Beard, during last month’s World Cup final halftime show between Argentina and Spain.

In the skit, Sudeikis pretended to send pop star Justin Bieber into the game as a substitute.

The new setting allows the series to bring back familiar faces like Sudeikis, Waddingham, Temple, Swift, Hunt, and Brett Goldstein, who plays captain Roy Kent.

It also opens up space for new characters, adding fresh tension and comedic moments.

The story will focus on the new team, their challenges, and the players competing for influence and game time.

Faye Marsay, who plays Lizzie, the witty centre-back, said it was right to use the show as a “platform to shine light on the problems in women’s sport and the things that we need to do better.”

She noted that the show is not “shoving anything down anyone’s throat,” but it does highlight issues facing women athletes, like motherhood and equal treatment.

“I think we do it in a kind of subtle and graceful way,” she said.

Apple TV will release new episodes of Ted Lasso weekly until the season finale on October 7.