Ted Lasso Star on Nate’s Difficult Position in Season 3

The second season of Ted Lasso ended with a moment that fans were hoping they wouldn’t see: Nate fully turning on Ted and Richmond, accepting a job with Rebecca’s vile ex-husband to coach West Ham United. Nate, the heart of the series in its first season, turned into the show’s villain. The character’s has been a sad one, and Season 3 sees him in an even more difficult place emotionally, despite his newfound wealth and success.

Nate is working his dream job, coaching a Premier League football team all by himself. According to Ted Lasso star Nick Mohammed, who plays Nate, the character is still far from finding happiness in his life.

“I don’t think Nate is happy now. Sadly Nate, bless him, he’s a troubled soul,” Mohammed told Deadline. “I rarely think he’s ever 100 percent happy and he’s always worried about something. Undoubtedly, he’s made this decision to be at West Ham, this fancy club that comes with perks. In the moment, he’s positive about those things like driving his fancy new car and having a bigger salary but I think he’s realizing they won’t make him truly happy. He still carries the regret, guilt, and shame with the way he left AFC Richmond and the way he talks to Ted. I think that’s going to eat at him until he’s able to find some kind of catharsis or he addresses Ted directly.”

Mohammed went on to say that Nate needs to address the issues with his dad before anything else if we wants to start making any progress. Even after landing his big job, his dad thought more about the language of his jokes than his success on the pitch. He also addressed the possibility of redemption for Nate, which may be difficult for some fans to accept.

“There’s a lot of anticipation as to whether Nate is getting this redemption arc and all I’ll say is that it’s not up to me or even the writers. I think it’s more about the audience and their capacity for forgiveness,” he said. “To some people. Nate’s betrayal at the end of Season 2 was the straw that broke the camel’s back and there’s no going back because he can’t re-write history. He did and said those things. Let’s say for the sake of argument he apologizes, get’s on his knees and begs for forgiveness. He still did it. There is an element of whether the onus is on the person to forgive Nate rather than for Nate’s forgiveness to be absolute. Like everything with Ted Lasso, it’s not so clear cut in that way, it’s more nuanced. It’s not that he is definitely redeemed or not, there’s a blurred line there.”

What did you think of the Ted Lasso Season 3 premiere? Do you hope to see Nate find redemption? Let us know in the comments!