Warning: This article contains spoilers about theTed Lassoseason 2 finale.
Like you switch on a light, just like that.
Well, I think you’re a f—ing joke.
Apple TV+
Because you sure as hell don’t belong here.
This didn’t just fall into my lap.
I earned this."
Colin Hutton/Apple TV+
“No, you’re not, you’re full of s—,” barked Nate.
“F– you, Ted.”
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: How are you feeling right now?
Jeremy Swift, Brett Goldstein, Jason Sudeikis, Brendan Hunt, and Nick Mohammed on ‘Ted Lasso’.Colin Hutton/Apple TV+
People are a little salty towards Nate, and probably will be even more so after the finale.
But yeah, I’m anticipating a little bit of a… backlash is too strong a word.
Yeah, they were saying that they hate Nate.
They should be following that journey in the way that they are.
Who knows how they’re going to react to what episode 12 bringsit’s one hell of a finale.
But I’m excited.
That’s probably the word.
And I literally fell to the ground.
I was like, “No!”
I honestly was so shocked.
To rip that in half, that’s a big gut punch.
I’m going to feel that as well as everyone else.
Or can not even you defend him?
I don’t think I can condone any of his actionsthe bad ones.
And, ultimately, he’s betrayed the club and gone elsewhere.
So I don’t condone those actions at all.
That’s very clear.
Ted was almost a replacement father figure in season 1 and now he feels even abandoned by Ted.
So he’s questioning if anything that Ted did for him had any real meaning.
He’s just making mistake after mistake.
There hasn’t been a scene between Ted and Nate this whole season, and that’s deliberate.
It’s to make the audience feel, hopefully, that Nate has been lost.
He hasn’t been able to have it out.
My colleagues have rightfully been criticizing his journalism ethics.
[Laughs] That’s true.
But I think Trent Crimm is a good person, right?
And Nate currently is not a good person.
So I think we needed sunlight in that very dark episode.
We see Trent be a good person in episode 12 and deciding not to do this anymore.
But I like that everyone is questioning the journalistic integrity of a fictional character.
And did you know where it was ultimately headed?
I knew very early on, before season 2 and 3 had been commissioned.
It threw people off.
They were like, “Hang on, this isn’t the Nate that I love.”
I’ve just had to ride this wave and it’s been thrilling.
You talked about some people being like, “Oh, this isn’t the Nate we know.”
Yeah, I made a point of asking lots of questions and they’re so generous with their time.
Obviously there is Jason, Brendan, often Brett [Goldstein], and sometimes the other writers.
So there’s a big support web connection.
I guess my concern was always not wanting to peak too early.
Because I don’t want it to feel too dark too soon."
Earlier, you mentioned that big scene between Nate and Ted in the finale.
I knew that I’d find it difficult, just because I don’t usually do scenes like that.
It sounds really obvious but I knew that I had to really know the lines back to front.
It has to feel really real.
So I wanted to ensure I go in there fully prepared.
It didn’t take that long to film, weirdly.
It was a very quiet set.
There was a lot of time with just Jason and myself.
We just talked it through.
Jason’s got this amazing way of getting inside your head in a really good way.
He almost can sort of speak to an individual in a character monologue.
And I was like, “No, talk to me.”
So were even you a little surprised that it didn’t go that direction?
Whatever happens, he’s made his bed and he’s going to have to lie in it.
It’s quite distressing.
It’ll be weird to watch it back.
The real tragedy here is the fracture amongst the Diamond Dogs!
Just as Roy (Goldstein) joins, Nate leaves.
Oh, I know.
And we’ve got a Diamond Dog WhatsApp group as well.
We genuinely just let Brett into it when [Roy] joins the Diamond Dogs.
So do I get choked out of it?
I don’t know.
But it’s really fun playing with the dynamics, which are familiar, like the Diamond Dogs.
It would be interesting to see him in a relationship.
I feel like we’ve sort of flirted with the idea.
Story-wise, it would be interesting if they pair him up with someone.
I feel that that’s what’s lacking for Nate.
When I say intimacy, I don’t mean intimacy in a kind of sexual way.
And so there’s just a series of time where he felt abandoned.
Maybe it’s possible for you to’t deal with it until he’s dealt with these issues.
Speaking of Nate looking himself in the mirror, what’s your spitting secret?
It’s horrible, isn’t it?
They spat on themselves in a mirror as a way of pepping themselves up.
You’d have to ask them to sort of double-check that story.
So it was based on a real kind of truth.
I remember Jason saying, “Can you spit, as in properly spit?
So it kind of creates an amount of liquid.”
And I was like, “Yeah, I can.”
So there was hardly anyone on-set, and they would have to come and antibacterial every scene.
They were conscious that this is a potentially really difficult thing to be doing in COVID times.
As well as it’s just been gross to look at and to do.
Yikes,I hadn’t even thought about the COVID angle of it.
Wrapping up, do you have one final message for any Nate critics out there?
There’s always a season 3.
I’m not saying it’s a redemption arc, because I genuinely don’t know.
But maybe there’s always hope.
If I believe in anything, I believe in hope.
So maybe believe in hope?
Maybe they’ll keep it real and maybe someone doesn’t get to redeem themselves.
So I don’t know, but they’re an amazing fan base.
I hope they’re ready for episode 12.
They’ve seen it coming.
We’ve been building towards this.
