‘Ted Lasso’ Season 4 Actor Bids Farewell to Deceased Character

SPOILER ALERT: This article contains spoilers for Ted Lasso Season 4, Episode 9, titled “Mae Rides The Bus,” is now streaming on Apple TV.

The title of the penultimate episode of Ted Lasso Season 4 hints at a farewell to a beloved character who has been around since the first season.

Episode 9 bids farewell to Richmond’s Mae Green (Annette Badland), who dies doing what she loves: supporting the Lady Greyhounds in their away match against Bristol City in the stands.

“That’s what happens. You get involved with people and they disappear. They go away and she loved her life,” Annette Badland told Deadline. “She made the most of her life and really enjoyed it. So she went, I guess, for her, in the best way.”

The Crown & Anchor pub landlady was asked to take the team bus to the away game after suggesting it would be difficult for someone with her “seasoning level” to make the two-and-a-half hour drive. So, Ted (Jason Sudeikis) and Coach Beard (Brendan Hunt) invite her on the shuttle with all the players, and they welcome Mae as one of their own during the ride.

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“I love the Lionesses, so I was thrilled when (season 4) happened, and the girls are amazing and effervescent and glorious to be there. The pub quiz scene took a few days to shoot, but it was like a tidal wave coming,” Badland said. “They’re so full of energy and life. So it was a wonderful thing to be involved in, and it just made all the feelings and the camaraderie stronger. And Mae couldn’t play football, wasn’t allowed to play football, I’m sure she’s had a lot of bad things happen in her life, but she keeps going and defies the odds and keeps throwing. It’s a great story to tell.”

In the interview below, Badland opens up about Mae’s legacy on the show, moving from the male team dynamics of the first three seasons to the Lady Greyhounds and how Mae might appear in the final episode.

DEADLINE: Did you know about this episode for Mae when you signed up for season 4? How did you react when you found out what was going to happen to him in episode 9?

ANNETTE BADLAND: No, I didn’t know that, and I didn’t know that until around, I guess, maybe November. We were only one episode away from filming that. I was shocked, but I’m very proud to be on the show and I admire Jason (Sudeikis). I think the show is so successful because people feel it is very authentic. The public knows that this is not done in a cynical way. It’s not a product. It’s something Jason wants to say about the world and who we are, so it should be trusted.

I don’t know when I will die. You just don’t know it. So, knowing that it was going to happen pretty close to filming, we just had to go for it. “Well, that’s (it). He told me that in the script, so he started at the beginning (with), “I invite her to come, and blah blah, and she won’t drive, and then she comes to the field and she gets on the bus,” and I say, “Oh wow, that’s…” and then “She’s passing.” (He takes a sip.) But I hope that’s what happens to the public too.

DEADLINE: How did you want to approach the speech you gave in the locker room before the match? There’s the moment on the bus before where they’re like, “We’re going to talk to you about your whole life and everything you know. How did you approach those scenes thinking about the end of the episode? What did you want to leave on the ground, for lack of a better way to say that?”

BADLAND: I don’t think I’ll give in. She is very frank. She is a lioness who will defend you to the nth degree once you have her heart and respect. As an older woman, where you become invisible, Mae never will be. She will not allow this to happen. I am ignored. You’ll stand at a counter and people won’t care, or they’ll bump into you. “You’ve had your time, step aside.” And Mae wouldn’t allow it, and she was still there, swaying and enjoying.

DEADLINE: What does it say about her whether she wants to sit in the public stands or on the fan side against the box with Rebecca and everyone else?

BADLAND: Yeah, not her people, and maybe she felt constrained. “Well, I’m not going to sit around and behave or feel like an idiot because I’m sitting with you.” I will go where the people who have really come together to get money, who are dedicated, (are sitting). Even if it was her pub, she is not part of a hierarchy. Everyone is judged on how they are. But not his style. Go and be with real pleasure.

DEADLINE: There is an allusion to the actions and the battle taking place there. And Mae has shares, and it was like she was protecting her customers at the pub. Can you tell us how she could also have such an impact on the team?

BADLAND: Well, she had a very big pile of stocks. I mean, they were about to “yay high” (gestures to indicate the height of the table she is sitting at.) She uses them wisely. His instructions are to use them in a particular way that is pretty good.

DEADLINE: I also love her relationship with Ted’s son this season. I was hoping you could talk about your work with Grant and the wisdom she may have left him?

BADLAND: It’s a delight. He is a handsome and brilliant young man. We got along very well and I will miss him. Really, it was great to have that element in the pub too. Another side of her. I can’t tease you with anything, I don’t think, but he knows what he’s doing with a dishcloth now.

DEADLINE: Keeley’s pregnancy is revealed in 409, and I’ve heard some people talk about the cycle of life and how someone passes on, and then a new life comes into the world. So I was curious if you had any thoughts on these themes for episode nine?

BADLAND: Oh yes, well, that’s absolutely true, isn’t it? We are moving forward. We’re here for a very short time, and the next wave, the next group of people comes. I’m delighted for Keeley, just delighted, and for poor old Roy.

DEADLINE: This episode looked like a really good sendoff for Mae, but could we still see a funeral or something like that in the finale?

BADLAND: You could, maybe. I guess, or it’s like, “Well, that’s it.” (They might forget it.)

DEADLINE: What do you think she would like to celebrate her life? Have you thought about this?

BADLAND: Oh, she would have asked for a great party at the Crown and Anchor. Everyone is invited. Jason changed some of the 410s. We talked after he told me he passed away, and he did it, because that’s how he is. He is responsive and collaborative. So he changed some things in 10 or incorporated what we had talked about. She doesn’t just (go away). It has no appearance, but it is always in context.

DEADLINE: I’m also worried, not worried, but the pub was his thing. So I hope it will be in good hands in the future.

BADLAND: She too. Oh yes.

DEADLINE: Anthony Head received recognition in 409, and Rupert also received his mention. How did this all play out with Mae leaving as well? What do you think? You’ve had scenes with Anthony in the past.

BADLAND: He came to the pub. Darts, and there we were. He came more than that, but that was the main thing. He was a magnificent man and will be greatly missed. He was charming, funny and generous, and we had naughty little asides. And I had wondered why we weren’t – I thought he would be in this last (season) and I didn’t know, as I think very few people knew, that he was sick and just couldn’t do it.

So we’re going to miss him, and I respect him, and I think it’s a great honor to be in the episode dedicated to him.

DEADLINE: How did it feel jumping into this new chapter of the series after the previous three seasons with the men’s team, and do you think it meant to Mae? Could you talk about this transition and leaving the series?

BADLAND: Well, when we finished (Season 3), we didn’t think there would be another one. Jason had said: “I have a three series arc, that will be it.” And then to go back and take, it’s very exciting because it’s a risk, right?

A women’s team is quite different, and the men followed it too. The male public followed him, as they do with real footballers. And there are good stories, different stories in there, different stories to tell. So I’m absolutely delighted that it seems, in England, certainly, to have taken off this year. People don’t know what to do. They don’t know whether to watch it episode by episode or watch it over and over. They can’t wait to gorge themselves on it. So it’s exciting, absolutely exciting. I had a great time. I’m privileged to be a part of it, and I’ll just have to be in the stands, right? And see how they progress.

Or there is a movie called The wonderful lifewhere an angel (descend.)

DEADLINE: I could see them integrating it. I love this movie. We watch it every Christmas. She would be such a great Clarence character.

BADLAND: Yeah, popping into someone’s consciousness and ripping a strip off them or something. Or give them information.

DEADLINE: I feel like Beard might need this for some reason. Because we don’t see his reaction at the end of the episode. We see that it’s Rebecca who tells Ted, we don’t see the words coming through, but just from her…