Ted Lasso Season 3 Finale Slyly Sets Up a Promising Spinoff Series

The third season of Ted Lasso has wrapped up and, since the cast and crew have long presented a three-season plan for the series, that marks "the end" -- if not of Ted Lasso, then at least of the story that the creators first set out to tell with the characters. The question of a fourth season has been hanging over the whole third season of the show, with star and producer Jason Sudeikis giving some pretty noncommittal answers along the way. What stuck out to some fans when the finale dropped last night, though, was the possibility of a spinoff.

Spoilers ahead for Ted Lasso's season 3 finale, which is now streaming on Apple TV+. You can turn back now if you want.

As the show wraps up, with most of its big stories do, too. Most notably, Ted himself has returned home to the United States, and seems content with that decision, which would make any potential extension of his story a difficult one to write.

Some characters are more cleanly resolved than others, with Rebecca (Hannah Waddingham) rebooting her love life and Keeley (Juno Temple) getting her PR film back up and running with Barbara (Katy Wix). Still, two of those three characters laid the groundwork for a potential spinoff in the final moments of the show, with Keeley pitching Rebecca on the idea of a women's team for AFC Richmond. Rebecca seems fairly open to the idea, which suggests an open door to follow up on the world of Ted Lasso without having to undo anyone's happy ending in order to do so.

A women's team would let Rebecca and Keeley continue their stories -- which ended on new beginnings rather than totally clean endings -- while presumably allowing space for other fan-favorite characters to duck in and out of the series as scheduling permits. Series creator Bill Lawrence has long said, for instance, that Sudeikis was married to the three-year format of the show in part because he has kids in the U.S. and did not want to spend too long away from them. But there's a big difference between shooting a 10-episode season, and shooting a single-episode guest appearance.

"I think that we've set the table for all sorts of folks to get to watch the further telling of these stories," Sudeikis said in March. "Again, I can't help but take the question as flattery for what all of us that were working on the show has tried to do. It's really kind of folks to even consider that because you never know what's gonna happen when you make things. The fact that people want more, even if it's a different avenue is lovely."