The second episode of Ted Lasso‘s third season is now streaming on Apple TV+, and there’s a new player in town. The episode saw Rebecca Welton (Hannah Waddingham) fighting to pick up one of the biggest footballers in the show’s fictional world after he becomes a free agent. While more desirable teams fight to get Zava (Maximilian Osinski) on their side, Rebecca takes a unique approach in wooing the player. If you’re a Marvel fan who watched the episode and thought Zava looked familiar, that’s because Osinski played Agent Davis in 27 episodes of Agents of SHIELD. In honor of Osinski’s return to television, many SHIELD fans have taken to Twitter to celebrate.ย
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“Agents of SHIELD repping on Ted Lasso, we do in fact love to see it,” @inkasrain tweeted. “MAX OSINSKI IN TED LASSO AGENTS OF SHIELD FANS STAY WINNING,” @harry1ixoninsta wrote. “agents of shield x ted lasso crossover is for me specifically,” @_pottedplant joked. “Why is Davis undercover as a footballer? Why is SHIELD interfering with the Premier league? Have they found out about the Hellmouth under the West Ham training center that’s turned Giles evil? (Did I just come up with a premise for a Ted Lasso-Agents of Shield-Buffy Crossover?),” @E_Ross214 joked. (Of course, Buffy‘s Anthony Head plays Rupert Mannion on Ted Lasso).ย
Will Maximilian Osinski Appear in More Ted Lasso Episodes?
Warning: Spoilers for Ted Lasso Season 3, Episode 2 Ahead! At the end of the newest episode, Zava announced he would be joining AFC Richmond, which means fans will definitely be seeing Osinski again. Speaking to ComicBook.com,ย Ted Lassoย co-creator and star Brendan Hunt revealed that Zava is Coach Lasso’s “biggest challenge” since he had to deal with Jamie Tartt in Season 1.
“It’s Ted’s biggest challenge that is inside the squad since Jamie, but Zava is different than Jamie in that he has much more gravitas,” Hunt said. “He has much more experience. He’s not trying to prove anything. He’s almost really just kind of a force of nature or a god. He’s not going to show Ted up, he’s not going to shout Ted down, but he’s not necessarily going to listen to anything Ted says, because why would he? He’s been to the mountaintop. It is a different kind of challenge for Ted to tackle.”
Many have already drawn parallels between Zava and real-life footballer Zlatan Ibrahimoviฤ. Beyond their similar names, the two men share almost interchangeable antics.
“He is a bit of a pastiche of various nimble-toed divas, but heavy dose of Zlatan in there,” Hunt said regarding Zava’s inspiration. “I was living in Amsterdam when Zlatan made his debut with Ajax, which was sort of his coming out party to Europe as a whole. He was a striking presence then. He of course only become more of an individual since then. So that seemed like a very fun spice to put in the mix.”
Ted Lasso releases new episodes on Apple TV+ on Wednesdays.ย
