Jason Sudeikis chose to 'walk toward fear,' return to 'Ted Lasso'
Jason Sudeikis chose to 'walk toward fear,' return to 'Ted Lasso'
Erin Jensen, USA TODAYWed, August 5, 2026 at 11:30 AM UTC
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Old characters, like old habits, die hard.
Despite saying “So Long, Farewell” to the Greyhounds in the Season 3 finale, “Ted Lasso” star Jason Sudeikis’ thoughts “constantly” turned to the world constructed in the cheery London suburb of Richmond, where Midwestern-born-and-bred Coach Lasso (Sudeikis) and crew transformed a written-off soccer team while reminding viewers that “doing the right thing is never the wrong thing.”
“I was filling up my Notes app,” Sudeikis reveals to USA TODAY.
In 2023's last episode, Ted declined an offer by club owner Rebecca Welton (Hannah Waddingham) to stay and continue coaching. His heart was set on returning to Kansas City to be closer to son Henry.
More than three years after a finale interpreted by many as the series' end, "Ted Lasso" suits up again for Season 4, kicking off Aug. 5 (Apple TV, Wednesdays). The 10-part installment jumps three years into the future. Ted's gig as an assistant manager at a grocery store allows him to spend more time with Henry (formerly played by Gus Turner and recast as Grant Feely) but doesn’t challenge Ted to live up to his full potential. An opportunity to coach AFC Richmond's women's team, a new venture proposed by Keeley Jones (Juno Temple) in Season 3, pushes him to reevaluate his circumstances.
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After the finale, the voices of the beloved characters still swirled in Sudeikis’ head, but he worried about having enough to warrant a return.
“And it's scary” to jump back in, Sudeikis, 50, concedes. “But it's like, doesn't that kind of mean you're supposed to do it? Like, you're supposed to walk toward the fear, face that, confront that?”
In February 2024, Sudeikis, his cocreators and a portion of the writers assembled at the historic Ojai Valley Inn, a resort 82 miles northwest of Los Angeles.
“It was mostly just about making crayons,” Sudeikis explains. “Can we make enough crayons to draw more show? Because it's not a single person's endeavor. It's the ensemble arts in the best way, and so [I] wanted to hear other people’s authentic enthusiasm.”
“Jason was pretty sure at that point he wanted to do a women's team,” says Hunt, 54. But they questioned whether the team should be in Richmond or in the United States. Ultimately, they decided on Richmond.
“We talked about a lot of big-picture things,” Hunt says, “and just came away with the feeling like: ‘Yeah, all right. There's enough here. The soil remains fertile, so let's have a go.’ ”
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The lesson Jason Sudeikis hopes to demonstrate for his children
Working at a local grocery to make up for lost time, Ted has “overcorrected,” Sudeikis says. “But I don't think that's helping his heart at all. Therefore, I don't know if it's the best situation for Henry.”
It’s a display, Hunt says, of why it’s important to put your own oxygen mask on first in a plane emergency before helping others.
“In far less dramatic terms, that is what Ted is finally realizing he needs to do,” Hunt says. “You've got to fill your own cup, or lungs, before you're really the best version of the person who can then do that for other people.”
Similarly, it’s the desire Sudeikis has to be an example for his own children – Otis, 12, and Daisy, 9 – whom he shares with former fiancée Olivia Wilde – that has inspired a litmus test likely used by many parents: Is this worth being away from my kids?
“You can make money in all sorts of ways,” Sudeikis says. “But I want to make money and leave the house for something [that feels worthwhile], versus being like, ‘I have to go do this’ or ‘I need to go do this.’ It's like, ‘No, I want to go do this.’ ”
Sudeikis says his mother and sisters modeled a passion for work.
“And that's a neat influence to grow up under,” he says. “I know [my kids] have that with their mother, and I hope they have that with their father.”
What to 'believe' in for 2026
How long might Sudeikis be providing this example as the ebullient Ted Lasso? When asked about the number of ideal seasons, Sudeikis and Hunt keep the cover on their playbook.
“At least four,” Hunt quips before Sudeikis goes for another laugh: “I don't know. Sixty-nine's always a funny answer.”
It would also be a far cry from the first season, which propped up viewers during the unprecedented and unpredictable COVID-19 pandemic when it premiered in 2020. What does hope look like in 2026? What does believing look like now?
“Maybe that we're not all as far apart as our algorithms can make us feel,” Sudeikis offers after briefly mulling it over. “That we're all going through this together, all this craziness. ... While elements of it are truly real and difficult, maybe some of the rhetoric around it is keeping us away from a solution.”
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Jason Sudeikis chose to 'walk toward fear,' return to 'Ted Lasso'
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
