The Apple TV+ hit series Ted Lasso has wrapped up its third season as of today. Does the season finale tell us anything about the possibility that it could be the series finale? Will we see Ted Lasso season four on Apple TV+? Or is Ted Lasso really ending? For fans of the show, there’s much to discuss before Apple makes any official announcement.
If you’ve already completed episode 12 of the third season, you may proceed in reading this article. If not, be warned that there are SPOILERS AHEADSPOILERS AHEADSPOILERS AHEAD that you should not read until finishing the season.
As a reminder, there are spoilers ahead for S3E12 so only proceed if you’re prepared to be spoiled or have already watched the finale.
To save anyone from accidentally being exposed to spoilers, I’m going to quote the premise of Ted Lasso from the show’s Wikipedia entry so there’s more room for the SPOILER WARNING for fans who haven’t had time to finish the show:
Ted Lasso, an American college football coach, is unexpectedly recruited to coach a fictional English Premier League soccer team, AFC Richmond, despite having no previous experience coaching soccer. The team’s owner, Rebecca Welton, hires Lasso hoping he will fail as a means of exacting revenge on the team’s previous owner, her unfaithful ex-husband. However, Ted’s charm, personality, and humor begin to win over Rebecca, the team, and those who had been skeptical about his appointment.
OK, to avoid resorting to lines or lorem ipsum, I’m now going to fill space with this YouTube video of a conversation with Brett Goldstein and Phil Dunster where the two discuss the show:
By the way, Brett Goldstein has a weekly podcast for fans of film that’s actually quite good. The most recent episode includes guest Neal Brennan. The recent Edgar Wright interview is where I started, and it’s a fun listen.
And speaking of lorem ipsum, who or what even is lorem ipsum? Again, we turn to the wisdom of the great Wikipedia:
In publishing and graphic design, Lorem ipsum is a placeholder text commonly used to demonstrate the visual form of a document or a typeface without relying on meaningful content. Lorem ipsum may be used as a placeholder before final copy is available. It is also used to temporarily replace text in a process called greeking, which allows designers to consider the form of a webpage or publication, without the meaning of the text influencing the design.
By now, I hope anyone still reading is aware that there are SPOILERS AHEAD if you have not yet watch Ted Lasso S3E12. Speaking of spoilers, this is the clip from Ted Lasso S3E11 that 100% made me cry actual tears.
Can you believe it? Crying actual tears from a TV SHOW. I admit it. I’m human. Try getting ChatGPT to make that admission! (SPOILERS AHEAD.)
OK, without further ado, here is the spoiler-y insight that one might gain from having viewed Ted Lasso S3E12. What does the future hold for Ted? Was what we saw the season finale? Will we see Ted return in the future?
Jason Sudeikis has insisted in interviews that the show creators had a story in mind from the start, and that story has been told in three seasons. Pair that with the fact that Sudeikis can relate to Lasso when it comes to missing his son while spending time in the UK. There are some serious parallels between the actor and the character.
So what happened? Let’s recap. At the end of S3E11, Ted told Rebecca that it’s time for him to go home to his son. The third season even opened with Lasso questioning Coach Beard about why they’re even still in London.
Episode 12 jumps right in with everyone in the know about Ted’s departure from AFC Richmond and London. No time is wasted on showing how everyone was informed.
The whole episode is actually a pretty standard episode of Ted Lasso – so much so that you might be anxious thinking about when and how they’re going to wrap things up.
The show does conclude, however, with what I thought was a very satisfactory ending. The storyline is a bit self aware, too, as it sort of helps you process the feeling of loss from the show ending.
As for the show actually ending, I think there are three tell-tale signs that reveal potential options for future spin-offs. The show does not explicitly acknowledge that it’s over, but there are clues about what the future could hold.
First, Trent has been writing a book about AFC Richmond all season. The former journalist shares a draft of the book with Lasso and Beard, revealing that it’s called The Ted Lasso Way. Before the episode ends, Ted tells Trent that he should change the name of the book, adding that it was never really about him.
I can only read that as a clever way of addressing the future of the Ted Lasso series. What comes next won’t be called Ted Lasso, considering the actor playing the character seems eager to wrap things up. Perhaps The AFC Richmond Way, as Trent names his book, could be a hint about what a spin-off series could be called.
Second, Keeley has presented Rebecca with a pitch that very well be a separate series – even if AFC Richmond replaces Ted Lasso on the Apple TV+ Up Next queue. Her pitch is for an AFC Richmond Women’s team.
Leaving our boys in the locker room and following a new adventure of a newly established women’s football/soccer team could be the fresh start that the show needs. At the very least, adding the story of the new women’s team alongside what happens with the men’s league is compelling.
Lastly, the show leaves no uncertainty about who is chosen to replace Coach Lasso. Unsurprisingly, Roy Kent is given the title of AFC Richmond manager. I don’t think we’ll fall into the name-the-show-after-one-character trap again, so don’t expect Roy Kent to be the name of the new spin-off. But I think that tells us that the cast will stay together for whatever comes next.
I do fully expect one new show to follow that continues to tell the story of all the characters who don’t move to America. And, spoiler, that happens to include Coach Beard … or should I say Willis?
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