Jason Sudeikis & Jeremy Swift Talk ‘Ted Lasso’ Season 4 Premiere

SPOILER ALERT: The following reveals major plot points from Apple TV‘s Ted Lasso Season 4 premiere.

It’s been more than three years since we caught up with Ted Lasso (Jason Sudeikis) and all his fabulous friends and loved ones back in Season 3. Following a hiatus, the Apple TV series Ted Lasso is back, and it’s like he was never gone. Well, almost.

When we reconnect with Ted in Episode 1, he’s back in his hometown of Kansas City, after leaving his life in London behind to be closer to his son Henry (Grant Feely). Ted is now working at Fowch’s Fine Foods, a local grocery store, ringing people up at the register.

Unbeknownst to him, three people from his past are coping with the heat outside his house: Rebecca (Hannah Waddingham), Leslie (Jeremy Swift), and Keeley (Juno Temple). When Ted sees them, he opens his front door and does a leap into the air (photo below), sharing his joy over their reunion. Famished, Ted takes the trio to a local BBQ spot where they pig out and catch up on what they’ve been up to. Amid the small talk and Rebecca spilling BBQ sauce all over her delicates, she reveals the real reason they are there: she wants Ted to coach their new women’s team. Ted is a little surprised but not really, and a little unsure of how to respond to her generous offer.

After catching Henry’s soccer match, Rebecca, Leslie, and Keeley head back to the U.K. without Ted, who declined the coaching job offer. However, all hope is not lost. When he gets home, he looks at all his mementos from the Richmond days and reminisces about those moments amongst friends. Taking a shot in the dark, he texts his ex Michelle (Andrea Anders), who is with Henry, and both agree to join Ted for a new adventure in England.

Ted is chuffed to bits at the prospect.

“When we first meet him, he’s really just dad-ing it up. He’s taken a part-time job, and he clearly didn’t blow the money he made while being the head coach of a Premier League team for three seasons. He’s hiding out a little bit, and slowly puts the pieces together of a different way to go about this familiar situation from the inside out,” shared Sudeikis with Deadline, which can be seen in the video above.

He added, “So then it’s getting back to doing what he loves, which he was depriving himself of for one reason or another. That’s open to interpretation. I have my theories.”

Even though Ted is going back to coaching, this will be his first time training women. The team, which viewers will officially meet next week in Episode 2, consists of Boots (Jude Mack), the cheeky twin sisters Niamh (Aisling Sharkey) and Siobhan (Rex Hayes), Margy (Mercedes Assad), and her girlfriend Mady (Annelise Heywood). There will also be a few other new faces that will be introduced in Episode 3. Before Ted arrives in England, the ladies will have been trained by Assistant Coach Alice Chilton (Tanya Reynolds), a lovely and devoted leader who lacks self-confidence.

Of the new experience of working so closely with the women on the team, Sudeikis remarked, “Coaching women for the first time in his life… arguably, he has a complicated relationship with women. He’s certainly not practiced in mentoring and coaching. It’s similar to being a fairly new father of a young girl; you don’t necessarily know what to do, what you can do, what you’re allowed, what’s appropriate…”

Sudeikis later added, “Because I was once a boy and I’ve, at this point in this journey, not been a girl, I’m guessing a lot of times. Girls are very good at making you wonder while you’re guessing, which I appreciate at this point in my life. I think Ted, for a guy who lives in the questions, is getting answers from areas he never expected.”

Earlier in the episode titled “Home,” while still in Kansas City (Missouri or Kansas, you decide), Leslie took a break from the group to visit the American Jazz Museum. Unfortunately, it was closed for a private event. Lucky for him, there was another option right next door: the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum. The gentleman selling the tickets convinced Leslie to consider his second choice. Not really being into baseball, Leslie was hesitant, but he went in anyway. He learned a lot about some of the greatest Black players of all time, with a large focus on Satchel Paige.

Swift commented on the scene, “It’s an unexpected journey because he wants to go to the jazz museum, and it’s a little lesson for him about struggle in sport and overcoming it. Big shout out to Milan Carter, who I did the scenes with, who is just a really beautiful actor, fantastic. I loved working with him. Also, a big shout out to Declan Lowney, who directed that first episode. He’s been on the show since the beginning, and he’s a superb director. A lot of fun to work with.”

For anyone planning to visit Kansas City, both the American Jazz Museum and the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum are real institutions that can be visited.

Next week, Ted crosses the pond.