On Monday, Apple celebrated the beginning of production with a first look photo (below) from the new season, which features Hannah Waddingham, Juno Temple, Jeremy Swift, and Sudeikis all looking lovingly at each other at a restaurant. The press release indicates that principal photography kicked off in Sudekis’ hometown of Kansas City; fans of the series will recall that Ted left England so that he could be more present for his son in Kansas. With that in mind we might speculate that the AFC Richmond folks are visiting the old U.S. of A. to convince Ted to come back and take on what the Apple synopsis describes as his “biggest challenge yet: a second division women’s football team.” Per the logline, “Throughout the course of the season, Ted and the team learn to leap before they look, taking chances they never thought they would.”
Jeremy Swift, Hannah Waddingham, Juno Temple, and Jason Sudeikis in Ted Lasso season four. (Photo courtesy Apple TV+)
Brett Goldstein and Brendan Hunt, who serve as executive producers on the show, are also set to return as their characters Roy Kent and Coach Beard, respectively. (Hunt is a co-creator of the show, and Goldstein serves as one of the writers.) They’ll appear alongside new stars Tanya Reynolds, Jude Mack, Faye Marsey, Rex Hayes, Aisling Sharkey, Abbie Hern, and Grant Feely as the recast Henry (Ted’s son). Given the shifted focus to a women’s team, the beloved AFC Richmond players may not appear as much in this fourth season, but Deadline reports that some of the men’s team including Phil Dunster (Jamie Tartt) and Cristo Fernández (Danny Rojas) “have had conversations to come back for guest appearances.” Behind the scenes, Ted Lasso has also added comedy vet Jack Burditt (30 Rock, Modern Family, Nobody Wants This) as an exec producer.
