‘Ted Lasso’ Season 3 Production Needs ‘More Security’

March 8, 2023

Jason Sudeikis, co-showrunner and co-creator of the series, talked about the pressure for the Apple TV+ series.

“Ted Lasso” may be coming to an end, but the beloved Emmy-winning Apple TV+ series was forced to “go with the flow” during production.

Series lead and co-creator Jason Sudeikis revealed that while writing the third and final season, storylines had to twist depending on everything from crowd control to the weather.

“I mean, that’s how we went about writing it, that we wanted to close this chapter. So much has changed with the hiring of the writers and the casting, just based on the elements of the day, like, ‘Oh, we want this to happen, but oh, it’s raining,’ so you have to go with the flow.” Sudeikis said Fun tonight. “So there are good ways to flow and there are adjustments. It was all wonderful and harmonious, but the idea was to do it for three years. I mean, if we had the chance, if we could, we never know how something will be received. This thing could have been really gooey shit, or it could have been… The fact that we can do it is amazing.”

The “Saturday Night Live” alum admitted there was “pressure” to make a great Season 3 to wrap up the series.

“God, I mean, the pressure that I felt was just from within, within our little circle of people who write the show and produce it and then edit the show,” Sudeikis said. “So we’ve got the bar we’re trying to hit and luckily people have seemed to enjoy it at the level we’ve been operating at after the first two seasons, so it’s less external pressure. Of course, I understood people’s desire and concern about when it would be released and all. I couldn’t help but put this in my personal space. But I had a fair idea of when it was going to be all along and so I was just trying to keep my nose to the grindstone, I guess they’re saying, you know, get it over with.

Co-star Brett Goldstein added GQ UK that filming season 3 in front of a live audience even influenced the production shoot.

“It feels like you’re doing a TV show and performing a play (at the same time) because there’s a live audience on the street and you just have to really focus and block that out,” Goldstein said. “You want to see how long it takes them to realize it’s boring as hell.” You can see them saying, “Why are they doing this again? They have already done that.”

According to GQ UK, “Ted Lasso” had to leave a scene in the middle of filming because of the live crowd.

“I think it’s possible that we underestimated (the impact of the crowd),” Goldstein admitted. “Maybe we could have used more security.”

He confirmed that production on Season 3 will be completed by the end of 2022.

“It wasn’t late, it was just a long shoot,” Goldstein said. “It’s such a big cast and we all got COVID one by one. So that definitely slowed him down. And so is perfectionism.”

As for the series finale, Goldstein could only tease, “It’s definitely over. But I think if there was more, I would definitely be up for it.”

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