Ted Lasso star and co-creator Jason Sudeikis is not mincing words in his response to criticism of the AppleTV+ show’s third season. The actor spoke out for the first time in a new book about the making of the Emmy-winning show, and he was not afraid to say exactly what he thought about people who were less than enamored with the show’s last (but possibly not final?) season.
Jeremy Enger asked Sudeikis directly about the negative opinions and reviews some had about season three in his new oral history Believe: The Untold Story Behind Ted Lasso, the Show That Kicked Its Way Into Our Hearts. And based on what has been excerpted by TVLine, everyone’s favorite mustachioed soccer coach has a decidedly incurious take on where dissenters’ opinions come from.
“Some people want to judge — they don’t want to be curious,” Sudeikis is quoted as saying. (Fans of the series might remember the phrase “be curious” as it pertains to a particularly poignant scene and monologue from season one.) But where other co-creator and star Brendan Hunt, who plays Coach Beard, was able to shrug off any negative feedback — calling it “easily compartmentalized — Jason Sudeikis was not. Which, in some ways, does feel very Ted Lasso of him (in an act one, before he-learns-the-lesson-in-act-three sort of way).
What Does Jason Sudeikis Think Of Ted Lasso Haters?
“Much like live theater, the show, especially Season 3, was asking the audience to be an active participant,” the actor said. “Some people want to do that, some people don’t.”
But Sudeikis didn’t stop there, either.
“I’ll never understand people who will go on talking about something so brazenly that they, in my opinion, clearly don’t understand,” he explained, before throwing a bit of “bless their heart,” Southern-fried shade into the mix. “And God bless ’em for it; it’s not their fault. They don’t have imaginations, and they’re not open to the experience of what it’s like to have one.” Dang, Coach — feels a little bit judgmental of you to assume people who weren’t fans of the third season are inherently incurious or imaginative.
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In the end, Sudeikis believes the show gave its characters a fitting end. “Everybody’s in better shape than when they started. Like a good Boy or Girl Scout at a campsite, we left it better than we found it.”
“And if you don’t see that in that show,” he added, “then I don’t know what show you’re watching.”
While it’s absolutely fair for Sudeikis to be frustrated and hurt by the response to a project that is clearly very near and dear to him, there’s a level of patronizing animosity in his words that feels at odds with the show, its fans, and the series’ core message. No doubt there were likely many people saying many colorful (and probably even downright mean and hateful) things to Sudeikis and the cast/crew about their disappointment with how season three ended. That said, most people who were disappointed in the series’ third outing were undeniable fans of the show, too — rooting for it to continue its streak of excellent storytelling, emotionally rich insights, and deeply lovable (if flawed!) characters.
But, of course emotions are running high when it comes to Ted Lasso! It’s the show that saved our collective sanity, and reminded us all to see the best in people, during one of the darkest times in recent history — the beginning of the COVID-19 lockdown. Ted Lasso fans just want the best for Ted Lasso: everyone involved has a lot of Big Feelings about it all. And as Ted Lasso taught us, sometimes you’ve got to let them all out in order to move on.
Now, can we all just be a goldfish about this?
- Release Date
- August 14, 2020
- Seasons
- 3
- Studio
- Creator
- Streaming Service(s)
- Apple TV+