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Ted Lasso killed off a fan-favorite character who had been on the show since the very first season
The ninth episode of the Apple TV show’s fourth season unexpectedly bid farewell to an original star in what the actor described as “the best way.”
*Spoilers follow – you have been warned*
Pub landlady Mae Green, played by Annette Badland, died after traveling from Richmond for the Lady Greyhounds’ away match against Bristol City. After expressing concern about taking a long trip, Ted (Jason Sudeikis) invited her to join the team on the team bus.
At the match, she gives up her place alongside Rebecca (Hannah Waddingham) in the dressing room so she can watch from the crowd, but the excitement becomes too much. Viewers learn that Mae has collapsed when Rebecca (Hannah Waaddingham) is informed, and she enters the locker room to find out from Ted that Mae has died.
Badland said TV Insider that she was “devastated” to hear the news when Sudeikis told her and immediately asked, “Can she come back like an angel?” prompting Sudeikis to make some changes to the 10th episode.
“She is there as a presence, if not as a full human being,” the actor revealed.
Badland has since accepted his character’s fate, stating, “This is what Jason wants to say about the world of human beings, and I think it’s great.”
She added to Deadline: “That’s what happens. You get involved with people, and they disappear. And she loved her life. She made the most of her life and really enjoyed it. So she went, I guess, for her, in the best way.”
Badland also confirmed that Ted Lasso was not originally intended to return for another season, with the cast being convinced there would only be three.
“We didn’t think there would be another one,” she said. “Jason had said, ‘I’ve got a three-series arc, that’ll be it.’ And then going back, it’s very exciting because it’s a risk, right?
The fourth season follows Ted as he returns to England to coach Richmond FC’s new second division women’s team. This meant that the original stars who represented the men’s soccer team in the first three seasons did not appear in the fourth season.
This includes a number of fan favorites: Sam Obisanya of Toheeb Jimoh, Dani Rojas of Cristo Fernández, Isaac McAdoo of Kola Bokinni, Collin Hughes of Billy Harris and Nathan Shelley, former AFC Richmond assistant coach turned West Ham United rival.
Gn entert
