This Is the Real Reason 'Ted Lasso' Is Back for Season 4

Image via Apple TV Published Aug 7, 2026, 7:19 AM EDT Giovana Gelhoren is a High-Trending Topics Writer at Collider, covering the most-talked-about stars, movies, and TV shows. Before joining Collider, she was a Digital News Writer at People Magazine and served as Associate Editor at SheKnows, where she honed her expertise in celebrity coverage and entertainment journalism. A proud Latina from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Giovana graduated from Northwestern University with a degree in Journalism and International Studies. She has interviewed countless celebrities, including Anne Hathaway, Halle Berry, Pamela Anderson, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Brenda Song, and is known for her encyclopedic knowledge of film, TV, and pop culture. Sign in to your Collider account Back in 2023, one of Apple TV's most beloved shows, Ted Lasso, came to an end. By seeing main character Ted (Jason Sudeikis) saying goodbye to his soccer team and returning home to the US, the series wrapped up its storylines and told happy endings, while leaving viewers wanting more and potentially even a tad emotional. But now, three years later, the series has returned with many of its original cast members with Season 4, which premiered this week on August 5, 2026. The new season, which sees the return of Sudeikis alongside many original cast members, like Hannah Waddingham, Brendan Hunt, Brett Goldstein and Juno Temple, changed its focus. Instead of coaching Richmond AFC's men’s team, Season 4 sees Ted take on the new challenge of coaching the women's team, aka the Lady Greyhounds. The new story, which introduces viewers to a whole new set of characters, not only inspired the Season 4 revival of the show, but is a reaction to the growing success and attention to women's sports in the past few years. What Is Season 4 of 'Ted Lasso' About? Three years after Ted returned to his hometown of Kansas City to take care of his son, Season 4 sees him get invited back to Nelson Road to coach the women's team. There, he reunites with Coach Beard (Hunt) and Roy Kent (Goldstein), who are now coaching the men's team, and also returns to work with Rebecca (Waddingham), Keeley (Temple), and Higgins (Jeremy Swift), who are passionate about growing support for the women's game. Once again, Ted becomes their secret weapon. But as he begins coaching his new players, Ted discovers that his new team are underpaid, overlooked and not convinced that winning can be as simple as believing. So, while coaching a soccer team has become more familiar territory than Season 1, coaching on the women's side presents a whole new set of challenges, and a new team that has no choice but to prove themselves time and time again. "As challenges mount on and off the pitch, Ted once again asks those around him to take a leap of faith and trust that where they land might just be exactly where they’re meant to be," the description entails. Among the new characters in Season 4 are Tanya Reynolds as Alice Chilton, Abbie Hern as Gemma, Jude Mack as Boots, Faye Marsay as Lizzie, Aisling Sharkey as Niamh and Rex Hayes as Siobhan. 'Ted Lasso' Returned to Meet the Moment in Women's Sports From the Apple TV production notes, it's clear that Ted Lasso didn't just return for Season 4 to make a profit, or to even cater to its fans. In fact, the series is back because of the real-world transformation of women’s soccer, giving the show an opportunity to explore an entirely new side of the sport while engaging with the momentum, and ongoing challenges, that define it today. Per Apple TV, Sudeikis and Hunt, who is a co-creator of the show, had been following men's soccer for years but are recent converts to the women's game. That was especially the case when the England women's national football team, aka the Lionesses,’ won the 2022 UEFA European Championship when Ted Lasso was filming in London. “The whole country was celebrating, so it was incredibly exciting," Sudeikis said. "Then we got to meet some of the players and became friendly with them, which was a great experience.” Their love for the women's game only increased as the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup took place and proved that the audience for the sport was there too, but so were the sport's inequality when compared to its male counterparts. Record audiences, rising investment and greater visibility showed how dramatically the women’s game had expanded. Still, persistent gaps in resources, media coverage and opportunity gave Ted Lasso a new version of the underdog fight it had not already explored. Per the production notes, the changing women's soccer ecosystem gave the series "both an opportunity and a creative challenge." "Season 4 not only celebrates the women’s game, but also explores the realities that come with it: disparities in resources and media coverage, the demands placed on players balancing careers and personal lives, and the resilience required to succeed in a system still finding its footing," the notes continued. That perspective makes Season 4 of Ted Lasso more than a simple continuation of one of Apple TV's biggest hits. By centering its story on the ever-expanding world of women's soccer, the series is responding to one of the biggest shifts in the sports world today, using its signature underdog spirit to examine both the unprecedented rise of the game and the systemic barriers that continue to shape it.