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Ted Lasso co-creator Jason Sudeikis has offered fans some hope that the popular show could return for further seasons.
The actor and screenwriter – who stars as the comedy’s warm-hearted but somewhat naive AFC Richmond coach, Ted – initially thought the hit series would conclude with season three, but ended up delighting viewers with a fourth season that premiered in August this year.
Appearing on the podcast Talk Easy with Sam Fragoso, Sudeikis, 51, opened up about the idea of bringing the show back for a fifth and sixth season.
He said he “would like to” do more seasons but acknowledged that “it takes a village”.
Asked if he believed that Apple would be interested in continuing the show, he remarked: “I would assume so.”
“I just don’t know,” he said when his host pushed him for further thoughts: “We haven’t started a writers’ room or anything like that.”
It was announced last year that Ted Lasso would return for a surprise fourth season, written after Sudeikis believed he was too creatively drained to continue.
Matt Cherniss, head of programming for Apple TV+, said at the time: “Ted Lasso has been nothing short of a juggernaut, inspiring a passionate fanbase all over the world, and delivering endless joy and laughter, all while spreading kindness, compassion and unwavering belief.
“Everyone at Apple is thrilled to be continuing our collaboration with Jason and the brilliant creative minds behind this show.”
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Ted Lasso debuted in 2020 to widespread praise from both fans and audiences. The show follows Ted, an American football coach hired to manage a British football team, despite having no knowledge of the beautiful game.
The show has also been nominated for, and won, multiple awards, with Sudeikis winning the Emmy for Lead Actor in a Comedy in both 2021 and 2022.
The actor developed the show with Bill Lawrence, Joe Kelly and Brendan Hunt, while his fellow castmembers include Game Of Thrones’s Hannah Waddingham, comedian Nick Mohammed, Wild Child actor Juno Temple, and The Devil’s Hour actor Phil Dunster.
Earlier this month Hunt, who plays Coach Beard, revealed that Sudeikis wanted Ted to step down from his role at AFC Richmond, and admitted that there was no guarantee that the series would return for a fifth season.
The Ted Lasso season four finale radically reshuffled the coaching staff at AFC Richmond, with Ted handing over his position as manager of the club’s women’s team, the Lady Greyhounds, to Alice Chilton (Tanya Reynolds), and instead became an assistant manager alongside Coach Beard.
Former Richmond player and coach Roy Kent (Brett Goldstein), meanwhile, accepted a job as Chelsea’s new manager, leaving the men’s team without a head coach.
According to Hunt, Ted’s request was never intended as a last-minute reversal. “That was something Jason wanted to happen from the beginning of the writers’ room,” he told Variety. “He saw Ted stepping down as just kind of fundamental to what the season was going to be.”
The many open threads in the finale have led fans to hope for another season. According to Hunt: “There’s not yet any indication that we’re going to get to answer those questions.”
He added that Sudeikis “plays the cards close to his chest, and I’m not privy to whatever poker game that I hope is happening between the powers that be”.