"It's the best you're going to get on set": Ted Lasso's new S4 stars Faye Marsay, Abbie Hern, and Jude Mack go offside
The best part about filming? Wearing trackies 24/7
Ted Lasso is the show that launched a thousand previously disinterested parties into being able to confidently say they enjoy football. Sure, we had to skirt around the fiction versus non fiction bit, but the heartwarming, Emmy-nominated show has proved that there is far more to the sport than dives, penalties, and questionable chants.
Set around the world of the fictional team AFC Richmond, it looked as though Ted Lasso had come to a natural ending point with season three: the men’s team had won a hard earned victory, Ted was heading back to the US, Trent Crimm had wrapped up his manuscript, and Keeley’s PR company was back up and running thanks to angel (and bestie) investor Rebecca. Everything was tied up with a bow, except for one thing — a mock press release reading “AFC Richmond: Women’s team” courtesy of Keely.
Luckily for fans, Sukedis and Waddingham fought for another season, picking up on the story of the women’s team for a new batch of episodes that sees Ted “taking on his biggest challenge yet: coaching a second division women’s football team.” Season four now kicks off on Apple TV on August 5th.
So what else is new? As well as Sex Education star Tanya Reynolds joining the coaching side of the cast, we also have a whole new team of players, including Faye Marsay, Abbie Hern, and Jude Mack who play vivacious Lizzie, hard-core Gemma, and ambitious Boots.
We sat down with the trio ahead of season four’s release to find out what it was like joining the cast, the relief to be in tracksuits over tights and corsets, and their (okay, our) plans for a Sport Relief x Ted Lasso special.
SL: Hey guys congrats on Season 4! How did it feel joining such a beloved show?
Faye Marsay: I used to play as a kid so it was like being able to live out my childhood dreams. As a kid I always wanted to be the first woman to play in the Premier League.
Abbie Hern: You still could...
Faye: Yeah, it’s not happened yet, but that’s okay we’ve got our own league, and some would argue it’s somewhat better!
Abbie: Maybe it’s because they’re waiting for you to join it?
Faye: Maybe!
SL: I’m sure a lot of people will be asking about the training and how much work you had to do to get ready for actually playing a footballer. But I want to know if you had to do a three legged race with any other player from AFC Richmond, men’s or women’s, who do you think your character would make a good pair with?
Abbie: Could you imagine [my character] Gemma and Jamie [Tartt] in a three legged race? It would be the most incredible thing you’d ever see.
Jude Mack: I think you’d snog each other.
Faye: I would pick Lizzie going with Boots [Jude Mack's character] because I think Boots is deliciously ambitious and Lizzie has been lacking that at home and needs that so I think they’d smash it.
Abbie: And then Sam [Obisanya] and Siobhan [played by Rex Hayes in S4].
Jude: Yeah they’d smash it.
Faye: They’d win.
SL: Every couple of years we get SoccerAid, where celebrities come and play a big charity match against each other. Is there ever a world where we get the AFC men’s and women’s team playing a match against each other IRL?
Faye: I would love that to happen
Jude: If you wanna organise it we’ll turn up. Is this actually just a pitch?
SL: 100%
Faye: Sign us up!
Jude: I will say that we’d win.
Abbie: We did once play [the boys] at darts and sorry but we beat them – we kinda wiped the floor with them.
Faye: We are just better at football, and that’s fine, that’s okay no one needs to get upset about that...
SL: Ted Lasso has a lot of celebrity fans, and although you’ve got a great cast, I reckon you could get some seriously cool cameos. If you could have anyone – actor, comedian, singer – making a cameo who would you love to see and as what?
Jude: [Immediately] Cher – Cher in the Ted Lasso universe just feels like it makes sense.
SL: As Ted’s Aunt maybe? In a custom sequinned football kit?
Faye: I would love to see Daisy May Cooper and I’d want her to be the opposing team’s manager and have a fight with out Tanya [Reynolds].
Abbie: Write that down!
Jude: Get the producers on!
Abbie: If I don’t meet Ella Toone now I'm in the world of football then there’s kind of no point.
SL: I’m seeing a kind of Sport Relief comic relief sketch happening... This is a slightly random question, but Abbie and Faye you’ve both been in period dramas where there’s a lot of corsets and uncomfortable costumes. How did Ted Lasso compare? Was it bliss being in sports gear?
Abbie: It was trackies every day!
Jude: It was unbelievable!
Faye: Yeah it was phenomenal. The kit designs this year are incredible too. There are three designs and they’re all beautiful.
Abbie: I’d arrive at work more uncomfortable than I’d be whilst filming. It was take your jeans off and put your trackies on when it’s usually the other way round.
Jude: It’s the best you’re ever going to get on set.
Ted Lasso season four is available to stream from 5th August on Apple TV .
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