"Ted Lasso" is back A surprise fourth season for the AppleTV+ series, with old favorites and women's football

Ted Lasso is back. A bit shamelessly, some might think. Thankfully, others would say. That it is always good to have in your life a character like the one created and played by Jason Sudeikis is a matter of fact, while how the protagonist will develop his story with the fourth and unexpected season is still to be discovered.

A finale that had left a bitter taste

As many will remember, in 2023 the original AppleTV+ series had said goodbye to the most tender and human coach ever written. A finale, however, that had failed to live up to the brilliance of the previous seasons, leaving a bitter taste both because we had to part with the character along with his teammates, and because of the way their story had come to an end.

It is with this awareness that the fourth season arrives: knowing that a Ted Lasso in your daily life is still needed, yet aware that last time things did not go exactly as hoped. The show's risk factors are two. The first is a story that might not live up to the characterization of the protagonist, always the ace up the sleeve of the series created by Sudeikis together with Bill Lawrence. The other is the totally new world into which Ted Lasso is thrown, which might not be satisfying or particularly appealing to the audience: the protagonist will be the Richmond squad, but this time the women's team.

Richmond starts over with women's football

The core of the season is once again football, but in a brand new form. Having said farewell to iconic characters such as Phil Dunster's Jamie Tartt or Cristo Fernández's Dani Rojas, at the center of Ted Lasso 4 is women's football with all the difficulties and prejudices that come with it. The themes are the same, the protagonists at play and their problems are still to be discovered. Alongside Ted, Rebecca (Hannah Waddingham), Keeley (Juno Temple), Leslie (Jeremy Swift) and Roy Kent (Brett Goldstein) also commit to a season in which the atmosphere is familiar while tension looms over what will become of the mission undertaken by the club and its team of female players.

The pressure in the air is similar to the one that emerges from the season itself: the conditions to reach success once again are all there, so are the right people, but how will this novelty be received by the audience and by Richmond fans? Was it the right move to continue with a fourth season or was a limping finale better than a disappointing return?

Believe, again

For now, with the first episodes available, the prevailing feeling is the joy of being reunited not only with the character of Ted, but with a climate in which kindness and good feelings are the order of the day. The only tool available in the genuine universe of Ted Lasso, in which we now know that anxieties and worries can also coexist, but there will always be a way to soothe them, especially if you are lucky enough to have the best people in the world by your side.

Whether the season will keep its standard we will only know as the episodes go on. When something more can be added to the tenderness, from the development or not of the new characters to the directions taken by their football challenge. For now, though, if you feel the need to be pampered you know exactly what to do, Ted Lasso is here for you once again.