Ted Lasso is a show that never should have worked in a million years, which somehow turned into one of the greatest sports series of all time. What began as a skit by Jason Sudeikis as part of NBC’s Premier League coverage transformed when Apple TV ordered a full show run — and it was right to have absolutely no faith this would work. Instead, we were gifted a show full of depth, heart, utter joy, and tremendous heartbreak, woven as a tapestry with soccer as a driving element of it all.
Nobody asked for Ted Lasso to give us a fourth season, but here we are. The finale to the show was as near-perfect as you can get, but (most) of the gang is getting back together as Ted returns to Richmond, this time as the coach of the newly-created women’s team.
It’s impossible not to have feelings about this if you’re a fan of Ted Lasso, so we decided to stop debating in Slack and give our feelings on not just the trailer, but getting a Season 4 of the show.
“It’s the hope that kills you.”
Early in the wonderful run from Ted Lasso, the show’s title character turned that phrase on its head, arguing in the locker room to his team that in his mind, it is the lack of hope that does you harm.
But seeing this trailer, I’m reminded of that initial idea.
Ted Lasso came along at a time where we all needed a little bit of hope, and it was a beautiful thing to watch this series, and these characters, develop. And there is a part of me – and perhaps a part of all of us – that needs a little hope again.
But can they truly capture lightning twice?
The trailer gives me that hope, that hope that they can. That hope that new story arc, with some new characters, can capture that magic we felt during the first few seasons. Yet, the fear in the back of my mind, and perhaps in the back of everyone’s mind, is that it falls short of those hopes and dreams we have built up, and dims what was such a bright light.
I want more Ted Lasso. I need more Ted Lasso. I’m terrified of what this is going to do to Ted Lasso. The amount of conflict I feel in watching this trailer is tremendous, because there was never a point where I assumed they were trying to keep this going.
While we did get the teaser of a women’s team in the series finale, I always assumed it was going to manifest itself as a spinoff side series with a predominantly new cast, and just a few returning faces sprinkled in. I didn’t know they were going to run everything back (sans the male players).
I guess I don’t really know what I want. I’m not sure I needed to see Rebecca’s life with Matthijs the pilot. I don’t really need finality to Roy and Keeley’s “will they or won’t they get back together.” The only closure I really wanted was knowing Ted was okay, which we got with him returning to Kansas and coaching his son — so why are we reopening that one?
In the end I just hope it’s worth digging this show up. I have a lot of faith in the braintrust of Ted Lasso to deliver something amazing, and the women’s team angle could be truly wonderful. I just don’t want my perfect memories of the original series to be tainted by this add on.
As a Ted Lasso stan/fan, the idea of a fourth season has had all kinds of emotional reactions from me. The initial trailer for Season 4 has done nothing but reinforce my excitement and fears at the same time. As seen in the picture below, while on a work trip to cover the Cleveland Browns game in London last year, I took a side trip to Richmond to buy some Greyhounds gear and take a picture on the bench made famous in the show:
Season 3 ended almost perfectly. While we always want more of something good, it is also nice for things to end in a way that we can look back on with only pleasant thoughts.
The trailer, as has been known/assumed, shows Lasso returning to coach a women’s soccer team, something teased at the end of Season 3 in a conversation between Keeley and Rebecca. To some extent, there needed to be a major change worthy of having a Season 4, but the decision to go in this direction puts a lot of pressure and emphasis on gender, which could be a lightning rod, either good or bad.
The good news is that Jason Sudeikis and company have handled a lot of potentially difficult issues properly and in a mostly entertaining manner.
The fear remains that something amazing and beautiful will now have a closing chapter that leaves a bad taste in my mouth. A great appetizer, followed by an amazing salad, and a perfectly cooked steak (for me, that is medium rare, but insert your temperature here), topped with brisket, and mashed potatoes meal (see the next picture, taken in Ireland during the same overseas trip), now is being risked by a big unknown at dessert.
The release of the new trailer has done exactly what the first three seasons of Ted Lasso did: Create emotion. Unfortunately, that includes a huge fear that my favorite show of all time (which seems to change every 5 to 10 years) could be tainted by a mid-level or worse final chapter. On the other hand, that amazing steak meal pictured above could be followed by an equally amazing dessert (we were too full to eat dessert after that meal).
I have excitement, I have hope, I have fear, I have worry, I have anticipation, I have anxiety.
To be honest, that is probably the most appropriate mix of emotions to be feeling toward Season 4 of Ted Lasso, so the trailer did its job.
