I say “ends” because showrunner Bill Lawrence has already said Ted Lasso was created with a three-season structure in mind. This means that this season will deliver endings for many characters, even if Ted Lasso is given a fourth season (Apple probably hopes it can, given how it’s one of the most-loved and best Apple TV Plus shows; and it has an overlooked show might be as good as Ted Lasso.) So, it’s time to start talking about the questions that need answers in the new season. Because we have a whole team’s worth of people whose lives have gone up and down during the last two seasons, and we’re ready to learn where they go next. Oh, and there’s one obvious question that I do not have for Ted Lasso season 3. The big premise of the new season likely concerns AFC Richmond’s quest to win the EPL trophy. So, let me do my best Ted impression: I don’t care about wins and losses.
The 5 questions I have for Ted Lasso season 3
- Can you make me not hate a Rebecca and Ted relationship? Throughout the first two seasons of Ted Lasso, the show’s seemingly been hinting at a coupling of Rebecca and Ted. Notably, it teased with the idea when Rebecca didn’t know who she was chatting with on Bantr, the text-only dating app that Keely had been promoting. Then, after we found out it was Sam, that didn’t stop the show from presenting Rebecca and Ted as being on two parallel dating trains that would eventually meet at the same station. With all due respect to Bill Lawrence & Co., I do not want this at all. Can one pair of attractive heterosexual coworkers not hook up? The story of people who don’t get along at first eventually hooking up is the most tired trope in TV. And because it’s been done to death so often, it makes platonic male/female friendships all the rarer in media. If these two kids can avoid the tendency of past TV shows, they will join 30 Rock’s Liz Lemon and Jack Donaghy in the rarified air of friends without sexual tension on TV. I’m also opposed to their coupling because I can already see the big issue: trust. Their professional relationship was born out of a lie — Rebecca hired Ted to tank Richmond as a team, not improve it. On top of that, you’d have the drama between Ted and Sam, with the coach now dating his player’s former lover. So, of course, something could come up that rehashes that issue, in a symmetrical story-telling kind of way. So, Ted Lasso season 3: if you’re actually going to do this, is there any way for me to actually enjoy it? Can you do something different? Or am I going to think this stinks worse than Roy’s niece Phoebe’s breath?
- Will Keely and Roy split up? What’s going on with Jamie Tartt? Speaking of Roy Kent, the second season of Ted Lasso constantly toyed with splitting up his relationship with the effervescent Keely Jones. But they kept presenting it it in the most ham-fisted of ways. This crescendo’d in the finale when Roy bought them a “last day working in the same building present,” with a couple’s trip to Marbella, a beach-filled city in the south of Spain. He even made sure they’d have “proper Wi-Fi and everything.” Keely declined the trip, saying she had too much work to do. She even said Roy should go. Roy asked if they were breaking up, and while Keely said no (and that they’d see each other in six weeks), something smells rotten in Marbella. Roy seemingly left the tickets in the AFC Richmond office (so we’re guessing that Jamie or Higgins went), and went off to be moody. This was in keeping with a pattern for the season, when a disagreement happened, but was settled. The vibe, though, was not cleansed. And while I want to think “that’s that” and Keely and Roy are good, there’s a spanner in the works (a piece of British slang I’ve learned that means “something that prevents things from going smoothly). Jamie Tartt, Keely’s ex, has gone from toxic masculinity to poster-child for awkward redemption story in the span of a season. While it all felt a little rushed, it does set up a potential love triangle that I’m worried Ted Lasso’s writers won’t avoid. After Jamie’s professed his love for Keely at Rebecca’s father’s funeral, these three seem to be on their way to some sort of dilemma.
- Will Nate come back from the dark side? The big twist of the end of Ted Lasso’s last episode was that Nathan “Nate” Shelley has gone from eager assistant at AFC Richmond to diabolical goon at West Ham United (the team owned by Rupert Mannion, Rebecca’s ex). After ascending to assistant coach in season 1, Nate spent the entire of season 2 on the down-swing, taking every joke from a colleague as a personal affront, and believing that Ted didn’t care about him anymore — and was replacing him with Roy Kent. As Nate became more toxic, bullying his replacement, the aptly named Will Kitman, as well as Richmond left wing Colin Hughes, we started to see his ego get in the way of his ability to be a good colleague. By the end of the season, he was basically a mole inside of Richmond, snitching on Ted to the press. And in the final shot? Well, as a blistering Run The Jewels beat thumped in the background, we learned (as mentioned above), Nate’s joined the enemy. So, the question I’m asking is pretty easy. Will Nate ever realize the mistakes that he’s made? Though, according to Nick Mohammed (who plays Nate), Nate’s not completely wrong (check out this massive list of events (opens in new tab) he shared that explains how Nate went so bad). The easy way out would see Rupert be too much of an abusive antithesis of Ted Lasso, and that push Nate to betray his new boss and try and seek a reunion with Richmond. We’ll see if the Ted Lasso team has anything more creative.
- Where does the newly independent Trent Crimm go? While Season 2’s ending saw Nate and Keely accepting new jobs, it also saw Trent Crimm lose his. No longer a reporter at The Independent, as a result of telling Ted that it was Nate who sold him out about his secret panic attack (to Crimm), Ted Lasso’s acerbic sports reporter is now looking for work. Largely used as a plot device in season 2, but functioning as one of the best skeptical minds for Lasso to win over in season 1, Trent Crimm’s next job actually interests me a lot. That’s because he’s often involved in the show’s moral story telling. Could he be pulled in to work PR for AFC Richmond (many journalists take that path)? I doubt it. Will he start doing his own investigative reports and help take the devilish Rupert Mannion down? That seems more likely.
- What comes next for Ted? I could ask versions of this question for a lot of characters. Like, “Is Sam Obisanya going to be satisfied by being a restauranteur or will he get another hobby?” Or: “Are Coach Beard and Jane Payne ending the season on again or off again?” But for nobody does it matter more than Ted. Coach Ted Lasso left America for what he thought was a plum coaching position and a big challenge. He also left America because his marriage was in tatters (and he’s now long since signed the papers as well). So, does Ted stay and keep coaching, or does he return to America? As seen in the previous Christmas episode, Ted does not enjoy being away from his son Henry, and so he may want to go back. But can he find a new challenge or reason to stay? Anyways, that’s where I am at about Ted Lasso season 3. Check out our list of the best shows to watch while you wait for Ted Lasso season 3 if you too are struggling with the gap between seasons.
