A fourth season of Ted Lasso depends on this one important thing

Fans still hope that Ted Lasso will get a fourth season, and its co-creator has recently shared that it's all up to one thing.

As soon as it debuted in 2020, Ted Lasso quickly became one of Apple TV+'s biggest hits. It looked like the setup of a pure comedy as the owner of a British soccer club (Hannah Waddingham) secretly plots to destroy it. She thus hires the title character (Jason Sudeikis), an American college football coach with zero knowledge of England or soccer. He then tries to whip the team into winning shape.

But the series won a huge following for its true heart, finding dramatic elements amid the fantastic cast. The critical raves were massive as the show won a total of 11 Emmy Awards, including three for Best Comedy Series and wins for Sudeikis, Waddingham, and Brett Goldstein.

The show was always pitched to only run three seasons and the finale looked to be a closer for the show. That included a montage showing the futures of the characters with happy endings for all. That seemed to be it but given the show's popularity, it's only natural that fans and Apple TV+ would clamor for more. 

Among those addressing it was co-creator Bill Lawrence who told Collider that at the end of the day, the future of the show will always rest on Jason Sudeikis wanting to do more. 

"Groupthink sometimes happens, even without talking to each other, and every actor, actress, writer, producer on that show — and [we didn't get] together and decide this was the message — we all loved the experience. As fans, we'd all kill if it was going again, but everybody would say the same thing, which is: whatever Jason feels like doing and whatever his decision is, we're all down with it."

It sounds good, but sadly, there are reasons it may not happen.

Why a Ted Lasso return may be unlikely

One would think Sudeikis would leap at the chance to return to a role that's won him Emmys and is seen by fans as his best ever. However, Lawrence pointed out the key issue is that the show requires a lot of time filming in England and the Americans in the cast may not want to take part in that again. That's especially true for Sudeikis who is a single father to two children.

"Not only is he the star, he's the head writer, and he's also the dude whose life just has to be completely overhauled and moved to a foreign country with young children. It's a big deal. So, as a fan, if someone's like, 'Oh, it's gonna happen again,' I'll go nuts. As a partner, I'm down for whatever he wants to do."

So once more, it depends on Sudeikis, as the actor appears to take the idea that the season 3 finale was the perfect capper for the series and no need to continue it. He's likely wanting to move on to new projects and not up for spending another year in England filming it when there's little reason to go on.

Still, it's possible Sudeikis might be swayed to return if he feels there's more to Ted's story, and fans would love to see it. Many a show that seemed to wrap it all up was able to return for more stories and it could make sense for Ted to get back into the saddle coaching a new team.

As of now, Ted Lasso appears to be done for good, but fans wouldn't mind seeing that ever-hopeful coach back on the job to be an inspiration.

Ted Lasso is streaming on Apple TV+.