Now in season 2, the laughs keep coming—and fans and critics keep raving. The show collected a record-setting 20 Emmy nominations heading into the 2021 awards, the new high for a comedy series in its first season. (The record was previously held by Glee.) One of the funniest parts is that Jason Sudeikis and friends originally created the character years ago for an NBC sports promo, not as the basis for a TV series. Brendan Hunt, who helped develop the concept and is a writer and producer on the show, plays Coach Beard, Lasso’s assistant coach who relocates to London with him. He knows far more about football (the European kind) than Ted. In the character-centric episode, “Beard After Hours” (premiering Sept. 17) we find Beard going through a bit of an existential crisis after the devastating loss to Man City in the FA Cup semi-final. You need to see his escapade through the streets of London in this episode. Hunt sat down with Parade.com to talk about Ted Lasso and his character, Coach Beard. Settle a bet for me. Is the “Beard” in Coach Beard his last name, first name, nickname, or just a descriptor? No one knows. Not even the writers. But we love speculating as much as everyone else does. It’s been said that Ted Lasso was envisioned as a thee-season series. With its immense popularity around the world, has there been consideration for additional seasons? There hasn’t been so much “consideration” and there has been acknowledgement (and appreciation and gratitude and a touch of awe) of the degree to which people seem to respond to the show. That was not part of original calculus, not by a long shot. Which do you prefer—writing an episode of Ted Lasso or acting in one? The true answer is I like being involved in a project where I can contribute on both sides of the camera. The more immersed I can be, the better. Why do you think this show has resonated so well with viewers? I wish I knew. But I suspect that part of the cocktail of it all is that people like being reminded that kindness is always an option. I feel like one of the themes for this season is the parent-child relationship. Whether it’s Ted and his son Henry, Rebecca and her mother Deborah, Rebecca and her goddaughter Nora, Jamie and his dad James, or even Roy and his niece Phoebe, the parent-child relationship affects and shapes who we are. How do these relationships, whether the character is the child or the parent, affect the character’s persona in Ted Lasso? From the earliest days of our writers room, we didn’t just want to know what our characters were like, we always wanted to know why they were like that. And that always takes you down the road to people’s childhoods and their parental relationships. So yes, we explore that a lot. Music plays an important part on this show. It’s almost a character in itself. Are a lot of the music cues scripted or does the show just have a brilliant music supervisor? We do have a brilliant music supervisor, Tony von Pervieux. And also, cues are occasionally written into the script. A few that come to mind: Dustin O’Halloran’s “Opus 26” in the pilot, “Let It Go” in the karaoke episode," “She’s a Rainbow” as Higgins’ ringtone this season… I loved the claymation opening sequence for the “Carol of the Bells” episode. Any chance we’ll see a full claymation or animated episode of Ted Lasso in Season 3? I’m gonna go out on a limb and say zero chance. But we do love Rankin/Bass, and our VFX department did an amazing job with those opening credits. Hannah Waddington has a beautiful voice. I hear you sing as well. Is there a possibility of a musical Ted Lasso episode? It’s definitely more likely than an animated episode, but I still wouldn’t go so far as to call it likely. But I’d love to do it. The writers room for season 3 starts in the next few weeks; we shall see! Which do you prefer—Soccer or American football? Soccer. I was a late convert. I didn’t get into it until I lived in Amsterdam for a while in my 20s, and now I’m a zealot. It’s the best. Get on board, y’all. You have until when we do most of the hosting of the 2026 World Cup, at which time we may be fielding the best men’s team the U.S. has ever had. Don’t miss out. Who’s your favorite real-life soccer team? Club soccer: Arsenal. International soccer: USA, with the Netherlands close behind. What’s your favorite episode from season 1? From season 2? 107 (“Make Rebecca Great Again”) and 208 (“Man City”). What’s your favorite line from season 1? From season 2? This question overloads my brain. “Then why are you trying to play like a Brazilian” and “Because I could never be that free” come to mind. If you could play any other character on Ted Lasso, who would you choose and why? Roy, because everyone wishes they could give so few fucks while saying so many fucks. What’s your favorite thing to do in London? Go to football matches. The more Arsenal games I see, the more it chips away at my impostor syndrome, a common plague among Arsenal fans with non-UK origins. What’s your favorite thing to eat in London? Chicken tikka masala! When you’re feeling homesick, what do you do or eat that reminds you of the USA? I turn up the volume and listen to Hamilton. New episodes of Ted Lasso are released at midnight ET on Thursdays on Apple TV. Next, You Need This Guide to New Streaming Sites, From Apple TV+ to Peacock
