From co-creators Jason Sudeikis, Brendan Hunt, Joe Kelly and Bill Lawrence, the beloved fan favorite Apple TV+ series Ted Lasso is now in its third season with AFC Richmond trying to find their rhythm again, as Rupert (Anthony Head) takes full advantage of the fact that “wonder kid” Nate (Nick Mohammed) is now on the side of rivals West Ham United. Although Ted (Sudeikis) would prefer to take the high road in his coaching, pressure to win coupled with some domestic issues back in America threaten the very delicate hold he has on his own anxiety.

During this 1-on-1 interview with Collider, Hunt (who plays Coach Beard) talked about how much of the Ted Lasso journey has been unexpected, balancing the light with the dark, just how much we really know Coach Beard, what the relationship with Jane says about him, the Diamond Dogs, what he’s learned from this collaborative partnership, and what the Ted Lasso experience has meant to him.
COLLIDER VIDEO OF THE DAY
BRENDAN HUNT: They just told me this [interview] is audio only, so I immediately took off my pants. Thank you for this opportunity.

Collider: That’s great. Well, you can’t tell what I do or don’t have on from the waist down either, so we’re all good.

HUNT: I get the vibe.

How much of Season 3 of Ted Lasso is exactly what you thought Season 3 of Ted Lasso would be? Was this part of the conversation that you’d always had about what the series would be, or was anything that developed over the course of the previous two seasons unexpected?

HUNT: Oh, there’s plenty of unexpected stuff. We’ve been on course with our main stuff that we always pictured, but even all of that has adjusted a little bit, or become richer, and has been complemented by these parallel things that we never imagined. Those are all flowers of the seeds of contributions that we got from the writers that we picked up along the way and the cast members who made everything greater than the sum of its parts. It is still very much a group effort, of everyone who has joined us on this journey, while still being encased with the original hull of the spaceship. I’m not wearing pants. I lose my metaphor ability when I’m pants-less, but I’m so comfortable.

Image via Apple TV+

This is a show that has always had this beautiful balance of light and dark. Just when we think someone is heading too far into the dark, they usually get pushed into the light again. When you all get together to talk about what each season is going to be, is there one of you that’s always trying to push things a little darker, and is there one that’s always trying to pull you back into the light, or are you all on the same wavelength with that?

HUNT: I think we’re all on the same wavelength, and we all give like everything a test drive, in both directions, really. We’re like, “Hey, we’ve landed here, but are we going far enough, or have we gone too far?” We talk through pretty much every possibility in that writers’ room, and what that ends up doing is it brings a lot of intentionality to what’s there and helps give it either balance or the right kind of imbalance.

Your character still feels like an enigma. He’s enough of a mystery that when he does something out of character, it actually somehow seems even more in character, strangely. Do you feel like we, as viewers, have a real sense of who he is, by this point, or are there still layers upon layers that we’re just never going to learn?

HUNT: I think people know the most important things about him, which is that he’s a troubled, but essentially loving creature, that is a sponge of facts and knowledge, who’s said yes to a lot of things in life, and who most importantly is always there for those he loves most. Now, have we had a full inventory of all his experiences and travels, and the stamps on his passport, which in itself may have an alias? No, we have not. But at his core, we know the guy now.

What does his relationship with Jane say about who he is? How would you describe their dynamic in Season 3?

HUNT: In a way, I think his relationship with Jane tells us why he’s not a head coach. He’s got some kind of hole in his soul that he’s just gotta fill, in the pursuit of passion, no matter how toxic or destructive that passion may actually be.

Image via Apple TV+

You have a tongue twister of a speech in episode four, when you’re going over Richmond’s plays with Ted and Roy, in an attempt to out think Nate. As one of the cast members who’s also responsible for writing this show, why would you intentionally make yourself say such a tongue twister? How many times did you have to shoot that?

HUNT: It took quite a few takes, I’ve gotta say. [The one you see] might be the only one where I got it exactly right. You get the script, and I had a hand in putting it together, but the eventual final words come to you, and I was like, “Oh, this is gonna be really hard. I have to nail this.” You just get really, really focused on it and do it for as long as it takes. It didn’t take all day, by any means, but once we got it, it was like, “Moving on!”

Did you have to practice that a lot? As an actor, do you like to really prepare for something like that?

HUNT: That was an example of a time when the final words don’t come to you until that morning, or the night before. Not consciously, but I always think of it as peaking at the right time, which would be when the cameras are rolling. So, there can be too much rehearsal. Everyone’s process is different, but that’s just what mine is. I just want to get incrementally better, the cameras are on, we get it, and we can move on.

We’ve gotten to watch the Diamond Dogs progress, over the course of the time that we’ve seen this group of guys together. What do you enjoy about that dynamic, and what can you say about what we’ll see from them, this season?

HUNT: Well, a founding dog (Nate) is no longer with us. Now, Trent Crimm is around, but he’s not sure if he has a place there. Meanwhile, Roy keeps pussyfooting, whether he’s in or out. There’s still at least three guys who are driven to help everybody in that room, and the other two are still puppies.

What do you enjoy about getting to just play with that dynamic?

HUNT: I love the Diamond Dog scenes. They’re just a hoot. There are genuine moments in there, but they’re under so many layers of silliness frosting. And then, we always end it with increasingly infantile barking, every time we do one of those scenes. It’s a real emotional roller coaster, for sure.

Image via Apple TV+

What have you learned from this collaborative partnership that you’ve had, especially with Jason Sudeikis and Brett Goldstein, since you’re part of the creative team together, but they’re also your co-stars?

HUNT: I’d also add that central to that relationship is Joe Kelly. Me and Joe and Jason were the original three amigos on this thing. It’s a very weird thing to have so many writers on the show be in the cast. It’s a very unique opportunity because what it means is that there are a few more cast members who are not only focused on the scene they’re doing now, but who have a very intimate sense of what the big picture is, of what we’re trying to get at. According to the Emmy scoreboard, that doesn’t hurt performances, at all.

As audience members and fans of Ted Lasso, we know what the show has brought to our lives. But as someone who has experienced it from the inside, what has this show brought to your life? How has it been unexpected for you?

HUNT: The reactions have been unexpected. The affection people have for the show is just overwhelmingly touching and wonderful. The amount of people who have spoken about what the show means to them and what it’s meant for helping them with family members who are suffering, or what have you, is just incredible. And for me, personally, something that I will always appreciate about it is just a chance to live in London. I love London as much as I love anywhere in the world, and I have for a long time. I was an Anglophile, as a kid. I would watch Doctor Who and Monty Python. I literally used to say to friends, when they would ask, “If you could live anywhere, where would it be?,” and I was like, “I would love to live in London, but it’s so expensive. I could only live there, if work took me there, and that’s never gonna happen.” I don’t utter many dreams, but that one, I uttered often. And what do you know, here we are. It properly came true.

Image via Apple TV+

I can’t wait to see more of the season, beyond the four episodes that I’ve seen. I appreciate you talking to me about it, but don’t get up, on account of you not wearing any pants.

HUNT: Yeah, and go put some pants on, yourself.

Ted Lasso is available to stream at Apple TV+.