Ted Lasso returns on 5 August, and Apple has put out a second trailer to remind you. Mumford & Sons on the soundtrack, familiar faces cut together, almost no plot given away. Standard practice a week out.
The cast list matters more than the trailer, and it landed alongside it. Three players who carried a large share of the first three seasons will not be series regulars in the fourth.
When we covered the release date back in April the casting was still unconfirmed. It is confirmed now, and it reshapes what this season is.
The Dates
Season 4 premieres on Apple TV on Wednesday 5 August. Apple is running its usual weekly schedule rather than dropping the lot, with episodes rolling out through to early October on the timetable announced earlier this year. The premiere is now streaming.
Three years and change have passed since season 3 finished in 2023. That is a long time for a comedy to sit dormant, and long enough that a chunk of the audience has moved on to other things.
Who Is Coming Back
The core five return as regulars: Ted, Rebecca, Keeley, Roy and Coach Beard.
That covers the relationships the show was built on. Ted and Beard, Roy and Keeley, Rebecca holding the club together. If you were worried Apple would bring the title back without the people who made it work, that worry can go.
Nick Mohammed is expected back as Nate in some capacity, though not as a full-time regular. Given where Nate’s arc finished, a lighter touch may serve him better than another full season of redemption.
Who Is Not
Jamie Tartt, Dani Rojas and Sam Obisanya are out as series regulars. Cameos are possible, and the reporting leaves that door open, but none of the three will be around week to week.
Losing Jamie is the one that should give you pause. His arc from arrogant loan signing to the emotional centre of the dressing room was the best sustained piece of writing the show produced, and his relationship with Roy generated a large share of both the comedy and the feeling. Sam carried the show’s conscience. Dani supplied the joy.
Strip those three out and the men’s team is functionally gone from a show that spent three seasons in its dressing room.
The New Squad
Which is the point. Ted comes back to Richmond to coach a second division women’s side, the Lady Greyhounds, and six new names fill the space the old squad leaves behind.
- Tanya Reynolds as Alice Chilton, the women’s team coach. Described as somebody working hard to present as tough, with a season-long thaw ahead of her.
- Abbie Hern as Gemma, an ambitious player.
- Jude Mack as Boots, the goalkeeper, known for her wisdom.
- Faye Marsay as Lizzie, tenacious.
- Aisling Sharkey as Niamh and Rex Hayes as Siobhan, twin defenders.
Faye Marsay is the name British viewers will recognise fastest, and Tanya Reynolds has the role with the most obvious runway. A coach putting up a hard front opposite Ted Lasso writes half of itself, and the show has done that dynamic well before with Roy.
This Is a Soft Reboot, Not a Reunion
Put the two lists side by side and the shape becomes clear. Apple has kept the five characters people love and replaced the entire team around them.
The logic holds up. The original arc finished properly in 2023, Richmond got their ending, and running the same players through another promotion race would have felt hollow. A new squad in a new division gives the writers stakes again, and it gives Ted something to be bad at before he gets good at it.
The risk sits in the same place. Ted Lasso worked because you spent three years with those players, and affection like that gets earned slowly. Season 4 has to build a new dressing room from scratch while carrying the expectations of a multiple Emmy winner. One season is not long to make you care about six strangers.
Reports of a three-season arc covering seasons 4 through 6 make more sense in that light. You do not rebuild a cast this thoroughly for one season.
What Apple Needs From It
Ted Lasso built Apple TV’s reputation. It is no longer the biggest thing on the service.
Pluribus overtook it as Apple’s most-watched show, and Severance had already reset what a hit looks like there. Apple’s subscriber growth has come from a wider spread of titles than the Ted Lasso years suggested, with some of the biggest jumps arriving from unexpected places.
So season 4 is not carrying the platform the way season 1 did. It is being asked to prove that Apple can restart a franchise rather than only launch new ones, which is a different test and arguably a harder one. The service has plenty of prestige drama. Warm, rewatchable comedy is thinner on the ground.
A strong run also lands at a useful moment, with Apple coming off a record 87 Emmy nominations.
Worth Watching For
Three things will tell you early whether this works.
Whether the new players get proper introductions or arrive as a crowd. The first season gave Jamie, Roy and Sam distinct entrances within a couple of episodes, and that groundwork paid off for years.
Whether Rebecca has anything to do. Hannah Waddingham’s character was tied to owning the men’s club, and the premise shift leaves an obvious question about where she fits.
Whether the cameos are handled with restraint. Bringing Jamie back for a scene lands well. Bringing him back every third episode signals that the new squad cannot hold the show on its own.
How to Watch It
Season 4 is an Apple TV exclusive, so you need a subscription to the service and no amount of hunting will turn it up elsewhere legally.
A few practical notes before 5 August. New subscribers usually get a free trial, which covers the opening episodes if you time it well, though a weekly release running into October means a trial alone will not carry you through the season. Apple One bundles the service with iCloud storage, Music and Arcade, and if you already pay for two of those separately the bundle maths can work out cheaper than paying piecemeal.
The first three seasons sit on the same service, so a rewatch before Wednesday is available if you want the old squad fresh in your mind before they stop being the squad.
Closing
Does Ted Lasso still work without Jamie Tartt in the dressing room, or was that relationship too much of the show to lose? And are you watching on 5 August, or waiting to see whether the reviews say the magic survived a three-year gap? Tell us below.
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