TED LASSO's Story Arc is Set to End With Season 3, But the Show Could Still Possibly Go On
Ted Lasso is the funniest, sweetest, most sincere series on TV right now. The Apple TV+ original came to us in 2020, just when we needed a feel-good experience the most, and now we have season 2 under our belts, keeping us looking forward to the show’s greenlit season 3. But the third season could be its last.
While fans have been settling in with the characters we have grown to love (not you, Nate) over their two-season arcs, it has apparently been known all along that the show’s creators only meant for the series to last three seasons. This was before they knew how Ted Lasso would blow up with viewers, but will that be taken into account?
In a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, one of the show’s creators, and series showrunner Bill Lawrence talked abut the future of the series, saying:
“I’d love the show to keep going. But it’s going to only keep going as long as [Sudeikis] feels like it’s a cool thing for him, not only to do creatively and professionally, but personally. People forget, he is a dude with two kids and he is a great dad and upping your life to London for half the year is tricky.”
He went on to add:
“[W]hen we started, we plotted out everybody’s beginning, middle and end of a three-season arc. This story is going to be over next year, regardless, even if the show finds another story to tell and goes on.”
Shows often complete one arc just to begin another. It will certainly be up to star and creator Jason Sudeikis and the rest of the cast and writers as to whether they want to press forward, because Apple has a huge hit on their hands, and they are willing to give the show as many more seasons as they would like to write for. Lawrence said of the possibility:
“I don’t know; I hope,” says broadcast veteran Lawrence, who concedes that the idea of ending a hit show after only 34 episodes seems foreign. “That would be like a month into season two. I like all these characters and I’d certainly entertain continuing to live on with [the character of Ted Lasso]. But it’s [Jason’s] character.”
Lawrence says Sudeikis will make a decision on the show’s future in a “timely manner” as the cast and writers on the series all recently renegotiated their deals to secure sizable pay increases that came with an option to continue Ted Lasso beyond season three. In the interim, Lawrence — who is also in the middle of renegotiating his deal with lead studio Warner Bros. TV — is fighting the urge to think about the future of Ted Lasso, including potential spinoffs.
“I don’t think anything is closed off, but out of just respect, we’re going to wait,” he says when asked about potential spinoffs. “None of us are worried about Jason figuring out what he wants to do. And when he does, then we’ll start talking about all that stuff.”
So just because three seasons was the original plan, it doesn’t mean that’s all we will get. There’s no way the creators could have imagined how huge the 7-Emmy-winning series could have ended up being. Hopefully Sudeikis has it in him to give us a few more seasons as Coach Lasso. I know I could use his optimism a while longer.