Ted Lasso's Hannah Waddingham Never Wants To Stop Playing Rebecca
There's been much talk about whether "Ted Lasso" will end after season 3, but it doesn't take a psychic to imagine that the show's characters might stick around somehow — even if it's without Coach Lasso himself. One cast member who would be happy to keep playing her character indefinitely is Hannah Waddingham, who won an Emmy for her portrayal of Rebecca Welton, owner of the Premier League football club, AFC Richmond.
Season 3 of "Ted Lasso" has seen Rebecca living out moments that her mother's psychic predicted would happen, such as a green matchbook showing up at a pivotal moment or someone uttering the nonsensical phrase "sh*te in nining armor." Waddingham herself is less certain of the future, in part because that's how "Ted Lasso" star Jason Sudekis is rolling.
In an interview with Women Love Tech this month, when asked about the possibility of a "Ted Lasso" season 4, Waddingham said, "I don't think Jason even knows, to be fair. What he has always said is that season three is the natural end of a three season arc, with a beginning, middle and end. After that who knows?"
This jibes with comments that Sudeikis and his "Ted Lasso" costars and cowriters, Brendan Hunt and Brett Goldstein, have made about how the show was always meant "to be three seasons" and was written and "planned as three." They could always change their minds or continue the Lasso-verse another way, of course, but regardless, Waddingham says she is down for more Rebecca:
"I love Rebecca. I miss her already. It's a very weird thing to miss playing someone who only exists on screen. But I want to know where she goes next. Caring for her feels like I'm serving a friend and I want to continue to serve her."
A world without Ted
Brett Goldstein has joked that Ted Lasso could die at the end of season 3 and come back to haunt the locker room as a ghost in season 4. What seems more likely, if "Ted Lasso" does end after this season, is that Goldstein and/or other actors from the show, including Hannah Waddingham, might show up in a spin-off, similar to what happened with Kelsey Grammer's protagonist in "Frasier" after "Cheers." Rebecca's friendship with Keeley, for instance, might be one way to keep Waddingham's character around should Keeley's whole office storyline develop into a full-on spin-off.
Goldstein, like Waddingham, won an Emmy for his supporting performance as perpetual scowler Roy Kent, and last year, he signed an exclusive overall deal with Warner Bros. TV, which co-produces and co-distributes "Ted Lasso." Series co-creator Bill Lawrence also signed a similar nine-figure deal, and one of the projects he and Goldstein developed under that deal was the Apple TV+ series "Shrinking."
Could their next project be a "Ted Lasso" spin-off, without Ted? Though Rebecca and Ted are on good terms now, it's worth remembering that the show was founded on the premise of her bringing in an unqualified coach as revenge against her ex-husband. In season 3, there have already been hints that Ted could be lured home to America to help raise his son more and that AFC Richmond might be in need of a new coach, anyway. It's not necessarily in need of a new owner or a new team, though, so while it's just speculation for now, who knows: maybe we'll see a show called "AFC Richmond" in the future, involving Rebecca, Roy, and many of the same characters and creators as "Ted Lasso."
"Ted Lasso" is streaming on Apple TV+.