Ted Lasso's Jason Sudeikis Weighs In On Season 3 Backlash: 'Some People Want To Judge, They Don't Want To Be Curious'
We may receive a commission on purchases made from links.
So much for that whole "be a goldfish" mantra.
The new oral history Believe: The Untold Story Behind Ted Lasso, the Show That Kicked Its Way Into Our Hearts by Jeremy Egner (order it here) includes quotes from series co-creator/star Jason Sudeikis regarding criticism the Apple TV+ comedy faced in its third (but perhaps not final) season. In the book, Egner suggests that there was "a small but hostile crowd of dissenters" who bemoaned "how the core cast had been scattered into different storylines." Others, he says, "complained that the narrative had gotten too diffuse and unfocused," with specific mention of Keeley and Nate's respective storylines.
While fellow co-creator/star Brendan Hunt (aka Coach Beard) brushes it off, saying that any flack the show has received is "easily compartmentalized," Sudeikis offers a more pointed response.
"Much like live theater, the show, especially Season 3, was asking the audience to be an active participant," he is quoted in the book. "Some people want to do that, some people don't. Some people want to judge—they don't want to be curious," which, as any fan can tell you, is the inverse of Coach Lasso's "be curious, not judgmental" motto.
"I'll never understand people who will go on talking about something so brazenly that they, in my opinion, clearly don't understand," Sudeikis continues. "And God bless 'em for it; it's not their fault. They don't have imaginations and they're not open to the experience of what it's like to have one.
"Everybody's in better shape than when they started," the Emmy winner says of the characters and their respective outcomes. "Like a good Boy or Girl Scout at a campsite, we left it better than we found it. And if you don't see that in that show, then I don't know what show you're watching."
Despite criticism, Season 3 of Ted Lasso went on to receive 21 Emmy nominations, a record for the show. It took home trophies for Outstanding Guest Actor and Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics, but lost the award for Outstanding Comedy Series (which it won in Seasons 1 and 2) to Season 1 of Hulu's The Bear.
Meanwhile, nearly 14 full months after its Season 3 finale, it was reported that Warner Bros. Television had picked up the options on three of the series' original stars — Hannah Waddingham, Brett Goldstein and Jeremy Swift, who had previously been contracted under Equity, a UK acting union — for a potential Season 4. The next step would be to make deals with SAG-AFTRA members — including Sudeikis, Hunt and Juno Temple — but no further news has been announced as of press time.