The season 4 premiere of Ted Lasso explained a main character’s absence after a surprising cast exit.
During the Wednesday, August 5, episode of the Apple TV series, Rebecca (Hannah Waddingham), Keeley (Juno Temple) and Higgins (Jeremy Swift) tried to bring Ted (Jason Sudeikis) back to their team after he initially turned down the job offer to coach Richmond’s Lady Greyhounds.
The audience then got a glimpse of old news clippings, including an article that read, “Gracias, Jamie Tartt,” confirming Phil Dunster’s character would not be returning for season 4.
Showrunner Brendan Hunt previously addressed the creative decision by pointing out that the focus on the women’s team meant the men from past seasons weren’t central to the story.
“Phil was going to be busy,” he told Variety. “But also, it would have strained credulity a bit further than we wanted to if all the old team were still on Richmond.”
Hunt continued: “If this team is doing so well, then the best players would be gone. They’d be bought by bigger clubs.”
The hit Apple TV series, which premiered in 2020, follows an American football coach who moves across the pond to take over a scrappy British soccer team. Fans previously questioned whether the series was over for good after the planned three-season arc wrapped in 2023.
“This story is done,” creator and star Sudeikis, 50, claimed on the “Fly on the Wall” podcast at the time. “It sounds like such a political answer, but it’s the truth. We only conceived these three [seasons], then this thing became this big old thing.”
Sudeikis mentioned that the Ted Lasso team had “thought about” potential spinoffs after seeing the demand for more episodes.
“Whether it’s [a book], whether it’s doing podcasts about the episodes to offer those audio commentaries … just to talk through things and the themes,” he shared. “And also it would explain the show in a much more cerebral way than I ever would have been able to explain it to anybody. Yeah, there’s opportunities, I think, for spinoffs.”
Sudeikis later surprised fans in March 2025 by revealing on the “New Heights” podcast that season 4 was officially being written. A first-look photo offered a glimpse at some — but not all — of the show’s beloved characters making a comeback.
While Sudeikis, Waddingham, Temple, Swift, Brett Goldstein and Hunt returned, there were some obvious absences, including Dunster, who is now starring on HBO’s Rooster. The series was created by Ted Lasso executive producer Bill Lawrence and caused a scheduling conflict.
Ted Lasso airs Wednesdays on Apple TV.
