Warning: spoilers ahead.
The hit Apple TV+ comedy Ted Lasso has officially ended. Though the streaming service hasn’t announced the show’s cancellation, creator and star Jason Sudeikis has all but confirmed it wouldn’t air past season 3 since the series premiered, Brett Goldstein (Roy Kent) posted what seems to be a farewell tribute to Instagram, and the last episode of the season was that of a series finale rather than a season finale, so we’re heavily leaning into the idea that Ted Lasso is indeed staying in Kansas for good.
Ted Lasso premiered amid the first year of the pandemic. Summer was coming to a close, and we were bracing ourselves for a fall and winter spent inside. The show’s titular character (Sudeikis) was endearing and hilarious. The relationships he formed with his co-workers and players were genuine and reminded watchers that there are people in the world who still care, even if they’re fictional. Many of us wanted to step inside the Ted Lasso world (and not just because it’s set in London). Even though we aren’t athletes, we wanted to join a team just to be coached by Ted Lasso.
Season 1 was excellent. Superb writing, an outstanding cast, and a comedy subgenre that Apple TV+ has since capitalized on (think Shrinking, the brainchild of Goldstein, Lasso executive producer Bill Lawrence, and Jason Segel) made for a television experience we didn’t know we desperately needed. Season 2 was even better, and both groups of episodes brought the creators and cast critical acclaim and lots of awards – deservedly so.
Season 3 divided fans and critics. It debuted to critical acclaim, but it lost its footing about halfway through the season, and it took more than a few episodes for the series to make a true return to form. Season 3 wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t as good.
But like with any piece of art, take critical opinion with a grain of salt. Sure, the dialogue in some scenes in season 3 was cheesy and various plotlines felt forced, but those minor peccadillos don’t detract from the show’s legacy. Ted Lasso is a strong comedy. It tackled pertinent, heavy topics in a meaningful way. It gave several characters genuine arcs. It had the rare ability to make you laugh out loud while you were crying. It had heart, and it had soul, and 10 minutes of cringe sprinkled throughout a collective 30+ hours of television are more than forgivable.
If you have yet to watch it, you’ve missed the internet discussions and the emotional roller coaster that is watching a show over the course of several weeks instead of in a binge format, but since it’s a streaming original, Ted Lasso lives on for those in need of a palate cleanser after the dramas and true crime that have been so popular lately. And since we’re not quite ready to let it go, we intend to rewatch Ted Lasso to soften the blow. If you, too, are mourning the loss of this epic show, we feel your grief.
Ted Lasso is streaming now on Apple TV+.