Ted Lasso has officially begun filming for its much-anticipated fourth season, which will bring back a majority of the original crew — but one key character has been recast.
The new installment of Apple TV+’s Emmy-winning feel-good comedy will welcome the return of co-creator, executive producer, and star Jason Sudeikis, Hannah Waddingham, and Brett Goldstein.
Juno Temple, Brendan Hunt, and Jeremy Swift are also reprising their roles in the series, about Ted, an American football coach (Sudeikis), who’s hired to manage a flailing British soccer team.
However, Gus Turner, who played Sudeikis’s on-screen son, Henry, will not be returning. He’s been replaced by child actor Grant Feely (Obi-Wan Kenobi). In March, sources claimed the show was looking to recast Henry with an actor who was proficient in soccer, since the character may get to show off his fielding talents.
In the first three seasons, Henry was a heavily recurring character and appeared mostly during FaceTime calls with his father. In the new season, though, the role will have the option to be promoted to series regular, according to Deadline.
Besides Feely, Ted Lasso will welcome other new cast members, including Tanya Reynolds (Sex Education), Jude Mack (Back in Action), Faye Marsay (Adolescence), Rex Hayes, Aisling Sharkey (Jurassic World: Dominion), and Abbie Hern (My Lady Jane). Some of the actors are expected to portray players on the AFC Richmond women’s soccer team, which Ted will now be coaching.
At the end of the third season, Ted flew back home to Kansas, where his ex-wife and son remained when he moved to London in the debut season. Meanwhile, Roy Kent (Goldstein) stepped in as assistant coach alongside Coach Beard (Hunt).
The next season will reportedly pick up where season three left off, with the first episode shooting in Kansas City.
“Ted returns to Richmond, taking on his biggest challenge yet: coaching a second division women’s football team,” reads an official season four logline. “Throughout the course of the season, Ted and the team learn to leap before they look, taking chances they never thought they would.”
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Over the course of its initial run, Ted Lasso received 61 Emmy nominations in total and won 13, with Sudeikis picking up the lead actor in a comedy series trophies in 2021 and 2022.
Speaking recently about the return of the beloved show, Waddingham, who plays AFC Richmond owner Rebecca Welton, told Variety: “It feels like it was the most beautiful, beloved dog that was buried, and now we’ve exhumed it, and I am here for it.
“I was hankering and hankering and hankering and hankering to see where Rebecca had gone, where she was going to. She’s my girl. She’s in my bloodstream, so I’m thrilled that it’s been exhumed,” the British actor gushed. “I can’t wait to get involved with that and put my penneth in and go shopping for her looks.”
A release date for Ted Lasso season four has yet to be announced.
