At first, the prospect of Apple TV reviving Ted Lasso — a great series that won big awards and concluded maybe not with a great series finale but at least one that felt final —seemed profane. But then you watch the trailer for the fourth season, the revival, and it begins with Brett Goldstein, the show’s tough-as-nails Roy Kent, giving Jason Sudeikis (Lasso) a hearty, familiar, altogether British “Oi!” and forgiveness seems on the table. At least until Aug. 5 when the show returns and the critics weigh in.
The trailer, which lasts all of a minute, foreshadows a lot of what’s to come for the show. For starters, it seems Lasso will be coaching a team of female soccer players this time. One woman contradicts actor Brendan Hunt (Coach Beard) when he says, “But football is life,” by saying, “No, life is so much more than football.” Lasso opines, “Not as catchy, but true.”
The trailer also shows the returns of cast members Juno Temple, Hannah Waddingham, and Jeremy Swift, and it teases the return of the themes from the first three seasons, such as Lasso’s boyish, folksy optimism (who else would smirk in jail?) and the love affair between Kent and Temple’s Keeley Jones. There’s even something that looks like a wedding scene.
Rolling Stone described the supposed series finale, which closed the third installment of the show, as “the end of a frustratingly bad season,” so in the spirit of second chances, maybe this season will be a make-good. “Ted Lasso was once upon a time capable of kindness and greatness simultaneously,” the review said. “With or without Ted himself, any version of the series going forward needs to be good in its storytelling, not just in its characters’ motivations.” Time will tell if this is the case.
