news ‘Ted Lasso’ Season 3 Set Dealt with COVID, ‘Pressure,’ and Massive Crowds: ‘More Security’ Needed

“Ted Lasso” may be coming to a close, but the beloved Emmy-winning Apple TV+ series was forced to “go with the flow” during production.

Series lead and co-creator Jason Sudeikis revealed that while writing the third and final season, storylines had to pivot based on everything from crowd control to the weather.

“I mean, that’s how we went about writing it, that we wanted to close up this chapter of it. So much changed with when you hire writers, when you cast it, just based on the elements of the day like, ‘Oh, we want this to happen, but oh, it’s raining,’ so you have to go with the flow,” Sudeikis told Entertainment Tonight. “So, there’s good ways to go with the flow, and there’s adjustments. It’s all been splendid and harmonious, but the idea was to do three years. I mean, if we had the opportunity, if we were able to, never know how something’s going to be received. This thing could have really been a sticky turd, or it could have been just what it is… The fact that we get to do it, lovely.”

The “Saturday Night Live” alum admitted that there was “pressure” to deliver a great Season 3 to cap off the series.

“Gosh, I mean, the pressure that I know I felt was just from within, within the confines of our little circle that write the show, and make the show and then edit the show,” Sudeikis said. “So, we have the bar that we try to hit, that luckily people have seemed to enjoy at the level at which we’ve been operating after the first two seasons, so, it’s less external pressure. Certainly, I’ve understood people’s desire and concern about when it was coming out and all that. I couldn’t help but have that enter my personal space. But I had a decent idea of when that was going to be all along, and so, I was just trying to keep my nose to the grindstone, I think they say, you know, just finish the thing.”

Co-star Brett Goldstein added to GQ UK that filming Season 3 in front of live audiences even affected the production shoot.

“It feels like you’re making a TV show and doing a play [at the same time] because there’s this live audience in the street and you just really have to focus and block it out,” Goldstein said. “You kind of want to see how long it takes them to realize it’s fucking boring. You can see them going, ‘Why are they doing that again? They already did that.'”

Per GQ UK, “Ted Lasso” had to abandon a scene mid-shoot due to the live crowds.

“I think it’s possible we underestimated [the impact the crowds would have],” Goldstein admitted. “Maybe we could have used more security.”

He confirmed that production for Season 3 was finished by the end of 2022.

“It wasn’t delayed, it was just a long shoot,” Goldstein said. “It’s such a big cast and we all got COVID one at a time. So that definitely slowed it down. And also perfectionism.”

As for the series finale, Goldstein could only tease, “It definitely has an ending. But I think if there’s more, I’d certainly be up for it.”
 
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