Apple TV is just one month away from debuting a new season of its most popular comedy, and the show is heading in some new directions in 2026. Ted Lasso is returning to the streaming service for a fourth season, with Jason Sudeikis reprising his role as the titular mustachioed optimist. The upcoming premiere is three years after Ted Lasso seemed to have ended for good with the season 3 finale, and fans should expect a whole new era for Ted starting on August 5.
The season 3 finale was presumed to be the series finale after the episode tied off most of its loose ends, including Ted deciding to return to Kansas for the sake of his son. Ted Lasso season 4 won’t be relocating the series to the United States, but it remains to be seen what exactly makes Ted decide that he can leave Henry again and return to Richmond. He won’t be going back to the U.K. to work with his old team. Instead, Ted is taking over as the coach of Richmond’s second division women’s football team.
There will be other returning cast members in addition to Jason Sudeikis, including Hannah Waddingham as Rebecca, Brett Goldstein as Roy, Juno Temple as Keeley, Brendan Hunt as Coach Beard, and Jeremy Switft as Higgins. A big question ahead of the new episodes is how much Roy and Beard will actually be involved. Season 3 ended with Roy as the head coach of Richmond’s men’s team, with Beard as his side. Season 4 might not be able to fully reassemble the Diamond Dogs, if two of them are busy with a different team.
Other elements of the show will remain the same for the fourth season, in addition to returning cast members. Like the first three seasons, new episodes will release on a weekly basis on Apple TV, rather than the full season dropping at once on Apple TV. That said, any fans who are hoping for more of Jamie Tartt, Isaac McAdoo, Dani Rojas, Sam Obisanya, Colin Hughes, and the rest of the AFC Richmond team may want to prepare themselves for changes on the way.
Ted Lasso Will Be A Different Show When It Returns For Season 4
The idea of a Richmond women’s football team was set up by Keeley and Rebecca back in the season 3 finale, so Ted Lasso already had a way to bring back Ted without taking the men’s head coach job away from Roy. The majority of the cast will be new for season 4. Although details about all the new characters are still scarce, Variety reports that Tanya Reynolds, Jude Mack, Faye Marsay, Rex Hayes, Aisling Sharkey, Abbie Hern, and Grant Freely are part of the ensemble.
Interestingly, Grant Freely will be taking over a returning role: he’ll play Henry Lasso for season 4. Gus Turner played Henry over the course of the first three seasons, although usually via FaceTime calls while Ted was an ocean away. The recasting of Henry was reportedly due to a season 4 storyline that would require the character to show off his soccer skills on the pitch.
Ted Lasso Season 4 Will Be The Apple TV Show’s Biggest Test Yet
After 3 years away from our screens, Ted Lasso is returning with a brand new football team, just as soccer takes center stage in the United States.
He will at least be familiar with football as a sport and life in the United Kingdom. Admittedly, the closest he came to coaching women in the first three seasons was getting a ball kicked into his face by Phoebe, Roy’s niece, and bantering with Shannon, a talented neighborhood footballer, on the streets. Still, he has many more basics mastered when he takes over the Richmond women’s team than when he started with the men’s team.
Ted Lasso season 4 may feel more like a reboot than a continuation of the first three seasons, but the returning cast members indicate that there will still be plenty of laughs on the pitch starting on Wednesday, August 5 on Apple TV.
- Release Date
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August 14, 2020
- Network
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Apple TV
- Directors
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Declan Lowney, MJ Delaney, Erica Dunton, Matt Lipsey
