Ted Lasso Star Addresses Extended Run Times of Season 3 Episodes

The third season of Ted Lasso is currently in full swing on Apple TV+, and one thing that sets it apart from the other seasons is the episode run times. During the show’s first season, the episodes averaged around 30 minutes, which is typical for a sitcom. During the second season, episodes were in the 30-minute range until about halfway through the season when they started to be around 45 minutes. This year, episodes have continued to be in the 45-minute range with last week’s episode clocking in at 1 hour and 3 minutes while this week’s episode was 57 minutes. The show’s co-creator, Brendan Hunt, who also plays Coach Beard, recently had a chat with The Wrap and addressed the episode run times. 

“It wasn’t that conscious of a decision,” Hunt explained. “We just kept writing the stories that we wanted to tell, and Apple didn’t seem to mind if they were longer than expected.” He added, “It’s a great luxury, and it comes from being on a streaming service, and especially a streaming service that doesn’t mind taking a chance or two. We were just going with the flow really.”

“It’s wonderfully liberating really,” Hunt said about writing for a show on a streaming service like Apple TV+. “To be able to let the story decide [how long it needs to be] is a wonderful luxury and we don’t take it lightly.”

Is Ted Lasso Getting a Season 4?

“Well, for a start, we don’t know if it’s officially the end. It’s certainly the end of this three-season arc,” Hannah Waddingham (Rebecca Welton) recently told Collider. “That’s what I’m clinging onto because I can’t cope with an end. I can’t cope with not seeing what happens to Rebecca in the final analysis, or any of them, for that matter. But the thing is, I will always have these people in my life, undoubtedly. If this is the end, then I say goodbye to Rebecca, and of all the people that I don’t want to say goodbye to, it’s her.”

“I don’t know, it’s up to more factors than myself,” Jason Sudeikis (Ted Lasso) previously told Variety. “The response to the show has been overwhelming. We have a tremendous group of writers. We have a tremendous group of actors. We have a tremendous group of people in production and post-production. All of those things are thrown into the jambalaya of possibility. So I couldn’t say yes or no. I do know that this part of the show is what it’s supposed to be. And it will be everything it was fortunate to become, based on all those added developments. As far as Season 4, I apologize for not giving you a more direct answer because I understand that’s helpful for headlines.”

Are you enjoying the current season of Ted Lasso? How do you feel about the longer episodes? Tell us in the comments!