President Joe Biden invited Ted Lasso’s crew to the Oval Office of the White House to discuss mental health strategies. The Apple TV+ show’s titular character, played by Sudeikis, has become the guru who can to teach us kindness and positivity to thrive in a world of cynics.
But did you know the character was supposed to be played differently? In an interview with The Guardian, the Ted Lasso actor explained how Donald Trump’s escalator entry in the presidential race changed his portrayal of Ted Lasso.
He added that the character was supposed to be more “belligerent,” but he “just didn’t want to portray it” that way. Read his full explanation below:
It was the culture we were living in. I’m not terribly active online, and it even affected me. Then you have Donald Trump coming down the escalator. I was like, ‘OK, this is silly,’ and then what he unlocked in people… I hated how people weren’t listening to one another.
Things became very binary, and I don’t think that’s the way the world works. And, as a new parent – we had our son Otis in 2014 – it was like, ‘Boy, I don’t want to add to this.’ Yeah, I just didn’t want to portray it.
Sudeikis’ decision to write the character as a flawed yet charming and kind coach instead of an aggressive and hostile leader is one of the reasons for the show’s success. The feel-good factor of the series, which the fans appreciate about the show the most, along with its take on anxiety and other mental health struggles, is all thanks to this minute yet effective change that Sudeikis brought.
In fact, the premiere of the Apple TV+ show was smack at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, when the audience needed all the lessons in patience, kindness, and empathy. Along with the life lessons, the blend of humor and a feeling of unity gave fans the escape they needed in a dire time.
The character that was born as an accessory to an SNL skit was finetuned to fill the void of decency and just pure goodness that the world so badly desired in those trying times. We’re grateful to Sudeikis, and even to some degree to the problematic former US president, for this necessary diversion from the character’s initial portrayal.
Though Apple TV+ or the showrunners haven’t confirmed it, season 3 of Ted Lasso may very well be the last – in fact, Sudeikis wants it to be so. Are you ready for the show to end? Do you have any spinoff ideas you’d like to share? Drop your comments below!
About Ted Lasso
Ted Lasso is an American sports-comedy streaming TV series developed by Bill Lawrence, Jason Sudeikis, Joe Kelly, and Brendan Hunt. It’s based on a character of the same name that Sudeikis first portrayed in a series of promos for NBC Sports’ coverage of the Premier League.
It follows the life of Ted Lasso, a coach of college-level American football who is unexpectedly recruited to coach an English Premier League team, AFC Richmond, despite having no experience at all in association football.
It stars Sudeikis as the titular character, Ted Lasso, joined by Hannah Waddingham, Jeremy Swift, Phil Dunster, Brett Goldstein, Brendan Hunt, Nick Mohammed, Juno Temple, and Sarah Niles among many others.
Source: The Guardian
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