Will Ted Lasso return (again) for season 5?
After a finale which nicely closes the story of Ted and AFC Richmond, could the Apple TV series launch into a new season? Brendan Hunt and Jason Sudeikis leave the door ajar, but…
Did Ted Lasso really deliver his last motivational speech?
After three years of absence, the comedy led by Jason Sudeikis has just concluded its fourth season with an emotionally charged episode, which seems to close several chapters of the story. Are there still great stories left to tell within AFC Richmond?
Warning, spoilers!
In the finale, titled “Being Alive” – written by the coaches themselves, Brendan Hunt and Jason Sudeikis – Ted hands over to Alice Chilton (Tanya Reynolds), who takes charge of the Richmond women’s team. He himself agrees to become an assistant coach, alongside Coach Beard (Brendan Hunt). A choice that extends the arc of this season: Ted understands that he has too often been absent for his son Henry and that it is time to review his priorities, echoing the death of his own father, who committed suicide when he was 16 years old. Among the men, another change is looming: Roy Kent (Brett Goldstein) accepts a prestigious position at the head of Chelsea. He leaves with a pregnant Keeley (Juno Temple). For her part, Rebecca (Hannah Waddingham) asks her partner Matthijs (Matteo van der Grijn) to marry him, after having managed to retain majority control of the club…
So all’s well that ends well?
Brendan Hunt explains to Variety that the choice to end with Ted as an assistant was at the heart of the project from the start: “Ted moving down a level was fundamental to what the season was supposed to be. That’s why the first episode begins with a close-up of his badge, where we can read ‘Lasso, assistant coach’, and we end with Ted Lasso as assistant coach.” The false suspense surrounding his return to the men’s team was therefore deliberate: “For those who still thought that his time with the women’s team was just a parenthesis – ‘Ha, I knew he would come back to the men’ – no, that’s not the case. We really like our women’s team, thank you!”
As for Jason Sudeikis, he is not rushing to announce what happens next. “I think we always hoped to come back for more than one season, but if it ended there, that would be great too. The ending works,” insists Brendan Hunt.
For the moment, nothing has been done.
Season 4 ends without a big cliffhanger and gives everyone a clear enough trajectory that the story can end there.
But Brendan Hunt still sees some avenues to explore: “Ted and Beard on an equal footing rather than in a hierarchical relationship, that intrigues me. Roy and Keeley becoming parents, that intrigues me. Rebecca getting married, that intrigues me. The guys running the pub or the way the team will welcome Alice as leader… It’s fun… Even if it’s true, they’re more questions than cliffhangers.”
For now, Apple has not yet officially announced anything.
