Paramount+ Sets New Ted Lasso Rival Series With Kingsman Director

Published Nov 13, 2026, 4:06 PM EST Adam has been writing in the entertainment news space for over a decade. Beginning his career of covering film and TV at CinemaBlend, he has also appeared on The Flash Podcast and done several radio spots. Filmmaker Matthew Vaughn is shifting from the Kingsman universe to a new Ted Lasso competitor series for Paramount+. Apple TV’s Ted Lasso has cemented itself as one of the best TV shows of the 2020s. While it initially seemed like the show was ending in 2023 with season 3, the Jason Sudeikis-led series returned for season 4 earlier this year, and it was met with largely positive critical reception, just like the previous batches of episodes. As the wait continues to see if Ted Lasso season 5 will happen, Paramount+ has tapped Vaughn to helm its own soccer comedy show. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the streamer has greenlit the English Premier League-focused Days 1s. Damian Lewis will star in and executive produce this series following, per the official description, “a gifted young footballer who achieves his dream of playing in the Premier League when he signs for Brentford F.C., bringing along his friends who stood by him long before the money, fame and success— his Day 1s.” Unlike Ted Lasso’s A.F.C. Richmond, Brentford F.C. is an actual club in England’s Premier League. Rearrange the movies into the correct US release order. Along with directing the pilot episode, Vaughn is executive producing Days 1s alongside soccer heavyweights Cristiano Ronaldo and Thierry Henry, as well as Borat's Dan Mazer, who serves as showrunner. This will be the first project from Vaughn and Ronaldo’s recently-launched UR-MARV Studios. Darren Dein’s DoubleD Sports is producing in association with Archery Pictures, and Doug Ellin and Kris Thykier are also attached as executive producers. Vaughn is a minority stakeholder in Brentford F.C. While Days 1s’ pilot will mark Vaughn’s first time directing a TV episode, he did executive produce the 2000 TV series Lock, Stock…, which was a spinoff of Guy Ritchie’s 1998 movie Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels. Vaughn’s film credits include Layer Cake, Stardust, Kick-Ass, and X-Men: First Class, but for the last decade, he’s best known for spearheading the Kingsman franchise. He directed, wrote, and produced Kingsman: The Secret Service, Kingsman: The Golden Circle, and The King’s Man, as well as directed and produced the spinoff Argylle, which came out in 2024. As of October 2024, the Kingsman franchise is in limbo, if not outright dead, as 20th Century Studios executive Steve Asbell said there were no plans to make any more sequels, prequels, or spinoffs. Lewis is best known on the TV front for shows like Homeland and Billions, and he’s recently been seen in movies like Fackham Hall, Pressure, and The Runner. Days 1s is the latest addition to the upcoming Paramount+ shows slate, with others including the Clueless sequel series, The Best of Us, and Discretion. As Day 1s progresses through these early development stages, Vaughn’s next movie, Stuntnuts: The Movie, screened at the American Film Festival on November 6. No release date for it has been set yet, but Stuntnuts and its already-filmed sequel Stuntnuts Does School Fight take place in the same universe as the Kick-Ass film series. Another sequel, titled Stuntnuts Does Shiver, is in development. Paramount+ with Showtime