Ted Lasso's Jason Sudeikis Teases Spinoffs Might Not Be TV Series
The Season 3 finale of Ted Lasso has landed on Apple TV+, which is expected to also serve as the series finale, but many figures involved in bringing the project to life have confirmed that the world of the coach could be expanded with spinoffs, despite nothing being announced at this point. Given the success of the series over the course of its run, fans won't be surprised if a spin-off project is announced, but co-creator Jason Sudeikis recently confirmed that such projects could be developed for other mediums and won't necessarily be realized in the form of TV shows.
"Whether it's [a book], whether it's doing podcasts about the episodes to offer those audio commentaries ... Just to talk through things and the themes," Sudeikis shared on the Fly on the Wall podcast. "And also it would explain the show in a much more cerebral way than I ever would have been able to explain it to anybody. Yeah, there's opportunities, I think, for spinoffs."
Given that Ted Lasso was based on a character created merely for NBC Sports promos back in 2013, the fact that he was turned into a TV series in the first place came as a surprise to audiences, let alone that the program actually become a hit. The show premiered on Apple TV+ during the coronavirus pandemic, at a time when those quarantining at home were looking for new things to watch. The overall optimism and sincerity of the project during such a difficult time saw Ted Lasso become an unexpected hit with audiences.
The creators of the series have been adamant that the goal of the project was to chart Ted's journey over the course of three seasons, which could have been in part to the creative team understanding the concept couldn't sustain an open-ended future. As the title of the series implies, though, the focus has always been about one man's journey through a difficult time in his life, even if the project introduced compelling supporting characters.
"This story is done," Sudeikis recalled. "It sounds like such a political answer, but it's the truth. We only conceived these three [seasons], then this thing became this big old thing."
The series finale of Ted Lasso is now streaming on Apple TV+.
Would you like to see Ted Lasso spinoffs be developed? Let us know in the comments!