Filming has kicked off on the long-awaited fourth season of Apple TV+’s hit comedy Ted Lasso, co-created, executive produced and starring Jason Sudeikis and produced by Warner Bros. TV. Original cast members Juno Temple and Brendan Hunt have closed their deals to return, joining Sudeikis as well as Hannah Waddingham, Brett Goldstein and Jeremy Swift whose options were picked up last August, kicking off the show’s comeback.
Grant Feely, who played young Luke Skywalker in the Lucasfilm/Disney+ series Obi-Wan Kenobi, is taking over the role of Ted’s son Henry in recasting. The part is heavily recurring with an option to become a series regular next season, sources said. Other new cast members — all series regulars — include 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 whom are expected to play players for the AFC Richmond women’s soccer team at the center of Ted Lasso‘s new chapter. Like with Ted Lasso‘s original three-season run, Sudeikis is rumored to have a three-season arc in mind for it.
Per Season 4’s official logline, Ted (Sudeikis) returns to Richmond, taking on his biggest challenge yet: coaching a second division women’s football team. Throughout the course of the season, Ted and the team learn to leap before they look, taking chances they never thought they would.
Clockwise Top L-R: Tanya Reynolds, Jude Mack, Faye Marsey, Rex Hayes, Aisling Sharkey, Abbie Hern and Grant Feely
YellowBelly Photo/Harry Livingstone/Getty/Courtesy/Getty/Courtesy
As Deadline reported in March, principal photography on Season 4 begins in Kansas City, Sudeikis’ hometown, before the show heads back to London. That ties the new season to the end of Season 3 which saw Ted move back to Kansas.
The new season reunites six Ted Lasso original cast members in Emmy winners Sudeikis, Waddingham and Goldstein as well as Temple, Hunt and Swift. Their characters were all part of AFC Richmond’s management/coaching staff, which explains their return. Other OGs who portrayed players on the men’s team, including Phil Dunster (Jamie Tartt) and Cristo Fernández (Danny Rojas), have had conversations to come back for guest appearances, sources said.
Temple’s deal to reprise her role as Keeley took awhile to close, in part due to figuring scheduling and logistics with her new series, Apple TV+’s The Husbands, in which she stars. Meanwhile Hunt, also a Ted Lasso executive producer, had been hard at work in the Season 4 writers room. There was never doubt that he would also return as Coach Beard; his acting deal was just not done until recently.
As Deadline reported in March, Ted Lasso launched a wide casting search for a young actor to play Ted’s (Sudeikis) son Henry. A soccer fan throughout the first three seasons, Henry, now 12, has become a skilled soccer player himself. The required soccer proficiency is believed to be a main reason behind the recasting of the role, played by Gus Turner is Seasons 1-3. After a number of candidates — including accomplished child actors — were considered, Feely was cast.
Behind the scenes, comedy veteran Jack Burditt is a major Season 4 addition as executive producer under an overall deal with Apple TV+. Sudeikis executive produces alongside Hunt, Joe Kelly, Jane Becker, Jamie Lee and Bill Wrubel. Brett Goldstein serves as writer and executive producer alongside Leanne Bowen. Sarah Walker and Phoebe Walsh serve as writers and co-executive producers, and Sasha Garron co-produces. Julia Lindon is a writer, and Dylan Marron serves as story editor. Most are Ted Lasso alums.
Bill Lawrence executive produces via his Doozer Productions, in association with Warner Bros. Television and Universal Television, a division of NBCUniversal Content. Doozer’s Jeff Ingold and Liza Katzer also serve as executive producers. The series was developed by Sudeikis, Lawrence, Kelly and Hunt, and is based on the preexisting format and characters from NBC Sports.
During its first three seasons, Ted Lasso became a massive ratings hit and a pop culture phenomenon while also garnering critical acclaim, including back-to-back Outstanding Comedy Series Emmys.
