The Ending Of Ted Lasso Season 3 Explained
Contains spoilers for "Ted Lasso"
The Apple TV+ comedy series "Ted Lasso" has seemingly come to an end with Season 3. The popular and award-winning series follows Ted Lasso (Jason Sudeikis), an American football coach who snags a job in England coaching an English football team. Audiences watch as he struggles to understand the sport and the British culture and carves a niche for himself as a coach who cares about his team, even when they aren't doing as well as the fans would like them to.
After a season that has caused some fans to question the direction the series was headed, the finale provides a resolution that sets several characters up for happy endings while Ted makes a decision that will alter the course of his life forever. Through the team's ups and downs, Ted shows his positive disposition, his caring nature, and the lengths he's willing to go to make sure the people he surrounds himself with are content.
With that, Season 3 shows the coach finally coming to terms with what sent him across the pond in the first place as other characters grow and become the best versions of themselves. Grab your AFC Richmond jersey as we venture onto the field to break down what you need to know about the end of "Ted Lasso," what it all means, and the chances of seeing this football team again. There are spoilers ahead, so if you haven't watched the final episode yet, head back to the locker room.
What you need to remember about the plot of Ted Lasso
As a series, "Ted Lasso" begins with the titular character moving to England to take a job managing an underdog English football team called AFC Richmond. He doesn't know a thing about their kind of football, but he is having marital issues and he and his wife (Andrea Anders) need some space as they try to repair their marriage. As the team manager, Lasso sees the team through brutal losses and terrific wins, relegation and promotions, and personal issues and self-discovery. Season 3 sees Ted coming to terms with the end of his marriage and making a big decision in his personal and professional life to maintain a relationship with his son, Henry (Gus Turner).
The team manager isn't the only character who goes through something significant this season. The start of the season sees Nathan Shelley (Nick Mohammed) working with West Ham United. Audiences watch as he grapples with his newfound responsibility before quitting and trying to rediscover who he is. Roy Kent (Brett Goldstein) also goes on a journey of self-discovery after a breakup with Keeley (Juno Temple), and even Coach Beard (Brendan Hunt) finally spreads his wings and learns to fly on his own.
Several players on the team also go through personal plights as the season progresses. Colin (Billy Harris) shares his sexual orientation with the team, Jamie (Phil Dunster) learns how to be a team player, and Sam (Toheeb Jimoh) opens the restaurant of his dreams.
What happened at the end of Ted Lasso Season 3
"So Long, Farewell," the apparent series finale, sees everyone coming to terms with Ted leaving the team. The players and a select group of fans perform a coordinated musical number at Ted and Coach Beard's last practice while Rebecca (Hannah Waddingham) refuses to acknowledge Ted's decision until push comes to shove. She makes it clear to Ted that if he goes, she goes, making the decision to sell the team.
After a nail-biting final game against West Ham, AFC Richmond wins the game, but not the Premier League, leaving them without the final feather in their cap. After a disappointing first half, the team reveals they've kept the torn-up pieces of the iconic "Believe" sign, piecing it back together to inspire themselves for the second half.
As Ted says goodbye, everyone else seems to get their happy ending. Roy Kent becomes the new manager of Richmond and goes to therapy. Coach Beard stays behind and marries Jane (Phoebe Walsh). Sam gets to play for the Nigerian team. Rebecca sells 49% of the team to the fans, keeping majority ownership, while also having a chance encounter with the gentlemen (Matteo van der Grijn) she met in Amsterdam earlier in the season. Nate has a happy ending with his girlfriend, Jade (Edyta Budnik), and his family. Keeley's PR firm is going strong. Jamie reconnects with his father (Kieran O'Brien). The journalist Trent Crimm (James Lance) publishes his book. And in one of the best developments, Keeley and Rebecca seem prepared to start an AFC Richmond women's team.
Ted learns about acceptance
Over the course of the series, Ted struggles with his marriage. He and his wife, Michelle, are going through a tough patch, which results in them getting a divorce. This isn't something Ted wants, and he grapples with the knowledge that his now ex-wife is dating the couple's counselor they saw when they were trying to work through their problems.
As a character, Ted is someone that does what he can to make the lives of those around him better. He does everything in service of other people. When his marriage fails, it creates a mental conundrum for him because he couldn't make Michelle's life better or "keep her happy," no matter how hard he tried. This is a difficult feeling to confront for anyone, especially Ted. Season 3 sees Ted learn how to accept what he can't control and to let it go, especially with the help from Rebecca, who went through something similar in the aftermath of her divorce from Rupert (Anthony Head).
Ted always puts on a good face for the team. Even in their lowest points, like their seven-game winless streak in the final season, he is the ray of sunshine encouraging everyone. He accepts what will come in every aspect of his life but his relationship. By the of the series, rather than continue to run away from what he can't control, Ted decides to go back home, even if it means he is returning to an environment that reminds him of his conceived failure.
And so do the rest of the team and coaching staff
Ted isn't the only character to reach a state of acceptance. Acceptance is a significant theme across the series, particularly in the final season. Rebecca accepts that there is nothing she did to cause her ex-husband Rupert to cheat on her with younger women; it's something he will always do, no matter how young or perfect his wife is. She also has to accept that she waited too long for certain aspects of her life because of her marriage. She goes to a fertility specialist early on in the season and discovers she can no longer have biological children, forcing her to come to terms with the loss of that possibility.
Season 3 also puts a spotlight on Colin. He is a closeted gay player, worried about coming out to the team. When Trent unknowingly comes across Colin with his partner, he provides a helpful ear as Colin struggles with coming out. When his best friend, Isaac (Kola Bokinni), realizes Colin's sexual orientation after a sex tape scandal, he tries to understand and accept why his friend didn't come out to him. He eventually confronts Colin at his home, asking if he had done something to make his friend think he wouldn't accept him. When Colin's ready, Isaac and the team readily accept and support him.
Nate and Roy also go on journeys of acceptance with themselves and the people they've become because of their careers.
The team learns to support one another
While AFC Richmond has always seemed like a tight-knit group of friends, there were divides. Colin and Isaac made fun of Will (Charlie Hiscock), the new equipment manager, to try and impress Jamie. Jamie was a football diva, refusing to yield the ball and function as a team. As a team, they tolerated one another, but there were clear divides and lines in the sand that impacted how they played on the field.
With his sunny disposition and unconventional methods, Ted changes that. Over his three years with the team, he encourages them to be honest and open, to support one another both on and off the field, and to reflect on who they are and what they can improve on. He even gives them each a book that he thinks will help them on eir journeys to self-discovery. By the end of the series, Ted has cultivated a team that is fiercely loyal to their teammates, while also going the extra mile to support one another. A prime example of this from Season 3 is when Sam's restaurant is vandalized after he speaks out against a politician. The team bands together to repair the damages, painting over the graffiti and fixing his neon sign.
Ted takes a team and turns them into a family. This is undoubtedly a major theme in this final season, from the team's immediate acceptance of Colin to how protective the team feels over one another and the community they've built.
The importance of prioritizing your mental health
"Ted Lasso" has always shed light on mental health, particularly for men. Men's mental health is often a stigmatized topic in the world today, but the series doesn't flinch away from that. Instead, we see characters taking the time to reflect on themselves and what they need to maintain their peace of mind and tackle their mental roadblocks head-on.
A prime example is how Roy initially reacts to Trent's presence during the season. The journalist wrote a fairly scathing review of Roy after his first professional game, which has haunted Roy for decades. Not only does Roy come to accept the article and that it wasn't a personal dig, but he also starts to understand how it impacted his mindset in his career and personal life. In breaking up with Keeley, the coach realizes he needs to work on himself, though he waits until the end of the season to take those steps.
The season also sees what is arguably a difficult-to-watch breakdown on Jamie's part. He clearly has a significant amount of weight on his shoulders as the season progresses, especially as the team begins to soar, resulting in a sobbing meltdown in the locker room before a key game. Rather than allow himself to bottle it up, he lets it out in front of Roy, who could arguably ridicule him for it, and makes a point to go and visit the person in his life who always makes him feel better: his mom (Leanne Best).
Everyone has come full circle
Though Season 3 is filled with turbulence, everyone lands on the ground in the end. Everyone seems to be the best version of themselves, mostly getting what they've wanted throughout the season, whether it be more time with their family or the chance to play for the team they've always dreamed of. Some, like Roy and Jamie, have what they need rather than what they want, especially as they both want to be with Keeley.
Some critics and viewers may think it's unrealistic for everyone to be in a positive position, but it reinforces what audiences have come to know and love about the series: we get what we give back to the world. The only person in a negative place is Rupert, who, after being the leading antagonist for the entirety of "Ted Lasso," has fallen from grace after his new ex-wife (Keeley Hazell) and assistant (Rosie Lou) speak out against him.
The people who put in the work are in a better place now, which is all Ted wanted for them when he met them three years ago. He made a lasting impact that has allowed the people in his life to discover new things about themselves and work towards a mentally healthier life. For the better, the series has come full circle.
Could their happiness be a dream?
While the ending of "Ted Lasso" seems to wrap most things up with a bow, there is some speculation over whether or not fans can believe the ending. The montage of everyone's happiness plays out on screen only for the next cut to be Ted waking up on the airplane, landing back in the United States for the first time since leaving for England. This has caused fans to question whether the happy endings we see are in Ted's dreams and aren't real.
There is an argument to be made that what we are seeing is what Ted wants for them and not what actually happens. Ted isn't present during the wedding sequence, which seems odd considering how close he and Coach Beard are. Wouldn't he fly back to see his best friend get married in front of Stonehenge?
In a Reddit AMA, Brendan Hunt had an answer to the fans' concerns. When asked if the wedding is real or in Ted's mind, Hunt simply answered "Real." This confirms that all the happy endings we see are actually happening to the characters. But then fans wanted to know why Ted wasn't at Coach Beard's wedding. In response, Hunt explained that the characters' friendship has had periods of not seeing each other, and he expects that the future we're seeing falls into that. He also argued the reasoning is "narrative" and that "it would be anticlimactic and deflating if we suddenly see him back there before we even see his plane lands."
What the cast of Ted Lasso has to say about the ending
The cast of "Ted Lasso" has been upfront about the status and future of the series. In an interview with Deadline, Jason Sudeikis confirms that the third season "is the end of this story that we wanted to tell, that we were hoping to tell, that we loved to tell." Fans have known that the series was designed for three seasons for quite some time, particularly when Brett Goldstein confirmed the designated end in 2022 to Variety, noting, "It was planned as three."
With the end of the series, fans are asking if "Ted Lasso" will remain a three-season show. In his Reddit AMA, Brendan Hunt expressed that nothing is set in stone at the moment, but the creative team needs to rest before they talk about the future of the series and characters. "We don't know. We need a break and will take one presently. Nothing has been ruled out, everything is possible; but that includes the possibility that we're done. We won't know until we've sat with it for a while, decompressed, etc."
The cast isn't ruling out spin-offs
Though audiences heard early on that the series was designed for only three seasons, the team isn't writing off the possibility of developing a spin-off series or two. Jason Sudeikis expressed to Deadline that spin-offs were still on the table, saying, "I think that we've set the table for all sorts of folks ... to get to watch the further telling of these stories." He said, though, that they've told the story they wanted to with Ted. Brendan Hunt reaffirmed the chance of a spin-off in his Reddit AMA, confirming that discussions still need to happen after a well-deserved break.
Other cast members have also commented on the possibility of spin-offs. When asked about the chance of an AFC Richmond women's team spin-off by Deadline, Juno Temple didn't seem to rule it out, ambiguously discussing how the series showcases female friendships and that "it would be amazing to see how they would continue to do wonderful things together." Hannah Waddingham echoed Temple's thoughts in her own interview with Deadline, commenting, "I love the arc of Keeley's character to present something to Rebecca that she hasn't thought about."
Also in an interview with Deadline, Phil Dunster comments on the future of the series, expressing that it's alright if this is the end. "I would love for there to be more but also, if that's all she wrote, let it be," the actor said, echoing similar thoughts to his co-stars.
What the end of Ted Lasso Season 3 means for the series (for now)
As far as we know right now, the third season of "Ted Lasso" is the end. The cast and creators haven't officially ruled out coming back for another season or developing a spin-off series (or two). There are plenty of stories to be explored, but based on the cast's comments, it will be a bit before fans will know if they will see their favorite fictional English football team on their screens again in the future.
As the end of a series, it provides closure for most of the storylines fans experienced over the span of 34 episodes. From Ted learning to accept what he can't change to Roy realizing he needs to grow for himself and himself alone, the team comes out on the other side of their time with Ted with a new perspective on life and memories that will last forever.
The end of "Ted Lasso" also means the end to the important on-screen representation of men's mental health, from Ted's panic attacks to Nate's implied depression after quitting his dream job. In turn, the series also shows its characters doing the work to better themselves by going to therapy, something that is still stigmatized in America today. However, "Ted Lasso" will hopefully always be available to watch, helping break the stigma for new audiences for years to come.