50 years down the track – and with a grand total of just 12 episodes – Fawlty Towers is still considered one of the best comedies of all time.
John Cleese and Connie Booth were repeatedly offered lucrative deals to make a third season, but famously turned them down because they didn’t want to degrade the show’s legacy. Clearly nobody at Apple TV or Ted Lasso HQ has the same level of restraint.
With 13 Emmy wins and 61 nominations, Ted Lasso’s three-season run was wrapped up with a neat little bow back in 2023. Ted went home to his family in Kansas, Roy stepped up as manager, and AFC Richmond was whole.
While some critics found the third season a little bloated, it was still the most-watched streaming original in 2023, with 16.9 billion viewing minutes in the US. More importantly? It stuck the landing, avoiding the dreaded curse of disappointing finales that enraged fans of shows like Seinfeld, How I Met Your Mother, and Lost.
So why risk messing with a good thing?
For a start, marketable IP is pretty much all Hollywood cares about right now, as Jake Johnson recently alluded to when we caught up with him for the launch og his new Apple TV pickleball movie, The Dink. Recognisable brands with established fan bases beat originality every time. So, if nothing else, Ted Lasso Season 4 was an easy sell for Jason Sudeikis and co.
It’s also a no-brainer for Apple TV, which reportedly loses more than US1$ billion a year for its streaming efforts. While your one-off prestige dramas and Oscar contenders might encourage a free trial binge, it’s the long-running fan favourites that keep a loyal subscriber base.
In an increasingly crowded streamer market, strategies that demand long-term commitment – like acquiring the Formula 1 rights across the US – are essential. Bringing back Apple TV exclusives like Ted Lasso, along with A-list-heavy flagship dramas like The Morning Show, is a natural extension of this strategy.
Of course, there’s also the argument that the show’s creative team felt there was more to say. Jason Sudeikis recently told The Hollywood Reporter that while he was initially hesitant to uproot Ted from his neat-bow ending just for “the money truck”, he ultimately realised that his Notes app was increasingly flooded with potential spin-off ideas.
RELATED: The Best Shows On Netflix Australia To Stream In 2026
Sudeikis wasn’t the only one who couldn’t stop thinking about the Ted Lasso universe, either, with writers and producers like Brett Goldstein and Brendan Hunt toying with ideas ranging from a Keeley Jones spin-off to a Leslie Higgins cartoon.
In reality, it’s a mix of creative itch and commercial pragmatism. The show’s creators are just as nostalgic and excited about the characters as the audience, but they’re also savvy enough to know that Lasso-related ideas are a shortcut to a ten-episode commission (and then some).
Spin-Off, Re-Boot, or Business as Usual: What’s Season 4 of Ted Lasso About?
While Jason Sudeikis, Hannah Waddingham, Brett Goldstein, Juno Temple, Brendan Hunt, and Jeremy Swift return as Ted, Rebecca, Roy, Keeley, Coach Beard, and Leslie Higgins, Season 4 focuses on the AFC Richmond women’s team, the Lady Greyhounds.
Fan favourites like Jamie Tartt and Dani Rojas won’t be making a return, but with the core management and coaching team intact, there’s potential for an entirely new set of stories, particularly in a landscape where women’s sports – the Matildas, WNBA, NWSL – are increasingly getting the status and attention they deserve.
The optimists among us might call it a legacy sequel, while the cynics would call it a corporate cash grab disguised as a soft reboot.
Will Ted Lasso Season 4 Be Any Good?
With much of the original creative team and a decent chunk of returning cast, chances are that Ted Lasso 4 will have the core DNA you know and love.
From Brett Goldstein (Shrinking) and Bill Lawrence (Scrubs, Cougar Town, Bad Monkey) to Sudeikis himself, the show is in undeniably good hands. But the challenge with anything like this is finding the right balance between meeting fan expectations, honouring the original, and moving the world on gracefully.
The curse of comparison is a heavy burden, and while fan and critical reception from last night’s premiere has been generally warm and positive, it hasn’t pleased everyone.
Some critics have used the words “saccharine” and “twee”, while others have praised it for being wholesome, warm, and emotional. Many noted that the first episode is predictably a little inflated with the obligatory reunions and updated setups it inevitably needs. The women’s team angle is generally seen as the right evolution for the story, though – even if the new characters haven’t quite captured hearts just yet.
Ted Lasso Season 4 will no doubt continue to split the internet (as most things do these days). Many will enjoy the feel-good show and relentless optimism for what it is, while others will chronically lament the fact that it just isn’t the same as the original series. Then, of course, there are those who were never really fussed to begin with.
Why None Of This Really Matters…
Whether you’re rolling your eyes at the thought of corporate streamers milking every ounce of nostalgia from Ted’s teat or can’t wait to consume every second with the vicious fervour of a father of two with a one-night hall pass, it doesn’t really matter. The show will get views. And unless it truly is abysmal, it will likely get renewed for a fifth season and beyond.
And, to be honest, even if it is abysmal, it’ll probably still get renewed anyway. The Sex and the City spin-off And Just Like That was objectively awful – with loud criticism across the board – yet it survived three whole seasons. And that was even after one mediocre movie (at best) and one farcically dreadful one. Quality is almost irrelevant. Hate-watching is still watching. And familiar IP with a core fan base wins every time.
The first episode of Ted Lasso Season 4 arrived on Apple TV on August 5, 2026, with new episodes of the ten-part series dropping weekly on Wednesdays.