It’s been more than three years since “Ted Lasso” Season 3 said goodbye (for now) to Jason Sudeikis’ Kansas-born football coach. Now, Coach Lasso is set to return across the pond, with a fourth season of the inspirational sports comedy premiering on Apple TV on Aug. 5.
Maybe you’ve been a bit of a goldfish and forgotten how things wrapped up in what was meant to be “Ted Lasso’s” final season three years ago. We’ve got you covered.
Here’s everything you have to remember from “Ted Lasso” Season 3 before watching Season 4.
So long, farewell
Probably the most important thing to know going into “Ted Lasso” Season 4 is that Ted isn’t in London anymore.
After a visit from his mother, Dottie (Becky Ann Baker), Ted finally confronts the fact that his son, Henry, misses him, and that he has attachment issues (stemming from his father’s suicide) that have kept him at a distance from his own child.
“It’s like I’m scared sometimes to get close to that little boy,” Ted says. “Because I know he’s going to leave.”
After this conversation, Ted decides that he’s ready to go back home to Kansas to be with Henry. He and the Greyhounds close out their season by winning their final game against West Ham United, owned by Rupert Mannion (Anthony Head), the ex-husband of Rebecca Welton (Hannah Waddingham). This places them second in the Premier League.
The season ends with Ted coaching Henry’s soccer team after returning home to Kansas. Ted’s ex-wife, Michelle (Andrea Anders), has seemingly split up with her boyfriend, who was their marriage counselor when she and Ted were still together.
In the final moments of the episode, he gives Henry the same advice he gave the Greyhounds in Season 1: To “be a goldfish” and forget his mistakes.
Richmond’s next chapter
Another key element of the “Ted Lasso” finale comes during the final montage (set to Cat Stevens’ “Father and Son”). Here, Keeley (Juno Temple) approaches Rebecca with a binder proposing Richmond’s next move: a women’s team.
The Avengers Initiative-like tease sets up the fourth season of “Ted Lasso,” which will see Keeley and Rebecca try to get this women’s team off the ground — hopefully bringing their favorite Kansan coach along for the ride.
A new man(ager)
With Ted leaving the Greyhounds, Rebecca promotes Roy Kent (Brett Goldstein) to head coach of the team. Roy keeps Beard (Brendan Hunt) on as his assistant coach.
He also keeps Nate (Nick Mohammed), who made amends with Richmond after his villain turn at the end of the show’s second season. In the penultimate episode of Season 3, Nate is forgiven by Beard, the lone holdout at Richmond, who reveals that he was once forgiven by Ted in a similar fashion. Beard and Ted met playing college football, and Ted allowed Beard to sleep on his couch after being released from prison for stealing meth. Beard then stole Ted’s car and was caught by the police, but Ted lied and said he loaned the car to Beard, prompting him to turn his life around.
As Beard and Nate point out, the story is very similar to “Les Misérables.”
Nate, Beard and Roy repair the show’s iconic “Believe” sign, which was once torn down by Nate, after all of the Greyhounds reveal that they’ve kept scraps of it and reassemble it during their final match.
A wedding, a reunion and a breakup
“Ted Lasso” Season 3 ends with some key changes in the show’s central relationships.
First of all, Beard gets married to his on-again-off-again girlfriend Jane (Phoebe Walsh) in a grand wedding at Stonehenge. Ted does not appear to be present at the wedding, while Roy serves as his best man.
Roy finds himself in a tricky spot, as he and Keeley remain separated at the end of Season 3. They started the season having broken up, and Roy squashed his chances at a reunion after getting in a physical fight with Jamie (Phil Dunster) over who “gets” Keeley.
Finally, Rebecca is leaving the airport after saying goodbye to Ted when she helps a little girl who tripped in front of her. Rebecca then learns that this girl is the daughter of Matthijs (Matteo van der Grijn), a pilot whom she met in Amsterdam.
