The hit Apple TV comedy "Ted Lasso" was supposedly over after three seasons, but now it's back for a fourth and its star and co-creator have hopes for a fifth and sixth.
"Ted Lasso" returns to Apple TV on August 5, 2026 with a new story that sees the titular character now coaching a second-division women's football team. According to The Hollywood Reporter, though, there could be more.
Apple has not commissioned a fifth season yet, but star Jason Sudeikis says that the aim is to get all of the writers back in late August to work on ideas for a following season. He says that he has another three-season arc in mind, and specifically there are ideas for the fourth season that weren't used.
Speaking of that fourth season, though, Sudeikis insists that he meant it when he said "Ted Lasso" was done after three. He says he meant it despite being offered more than $1 million per episode to continue.
"The story was told," he says. "Ted went home [to Kansas City] to be with his son. I wasn't going to have Ted uproot their life to justify the money truck. It made no sense to me."
Yet viewers kept telling him that the show saved them and he'd say right back that "It saved me, too."
"It is infectious to play a character who sees the best in people and isn't mad at the world for all its foibles and bullies and shadows," he continued. "It's not like I'm Daniel Day-Lewis, but it was good to live in that — to have that coursing through your brain and your body all day."
Ultimately, Sudeikis gathered together his team at the Ojai Valley Inn to see if there was more that could be done. "We were just kind of kicking the tires on it — or, as we were saying at the time, checking the viability of the soil," said co-creator and star Brendan Hunt.
Clearly they came up with a premise. Tim Cook had already expressed a hope for a fourth season, so unsurprisingly, Apple TV was interested.
It doesn't appear to have been the smoothest of productions, though. While playing this down for some reason, The Hollywood Reporter says that the show ran around a month behind schedule.
Scheduling problems reportedly led to what are described as "come to Jesus" Zoom calls between the team and Apple. The show did come in under budget, though, and apparently that was chiefly down to there being fewer football scenes.
There are also characters missing from the original run as not everyone could be fitted into the new story. Sudeikis says he phoned every actor to discuss it.
"Because I didn't want them to hear it on the internet," he said. "And because I love those guys and we all went through something together."
Sudeikis and his team say that they believe the new fourth season is strong. "I think it has some of that season one magic," says writer Brett Goldstein, who also starred as footballer Roy Kent.
There's a lot more in The Hollywood Reporter piece from Wednesday, surrounding behind-the-scenes details from all the seasons to date, and preproduction drama. It's worth a read if you're a fan of the show.
