TVLINE | The finale ultimately keeps Ted in Richmond, but in a very different role: he and Beard are now Alice’s assistants. What made this the next step for Ted, rather than, say, seeing him return as head coach of the men’s team?
If Ted had to go straight back to the men’s team, this whole season would have been like a favor to the women’s game: he could come for a while as a tourist and then leave. It wouldn’t have been a great move for Ted, first of all, but it wouldn’t have done the sport any favors. We are here to do this right. Now, that’s not to say we’re above a little quick tampering for people, but yeah, that was never the plan for Ted.
TVLINE | Maybe that’s what you’re referring to, because in that last scene in Rebecca’s office, Ted mentions a vacancy, and it leaves you thinking before the reveal: “Is he going to hand the team over to Alice and go back to the men?”
No, he is referring to the vacant female manager position. It simply says “your manager’s newly vacant position.” She does not yet know that the position of female manager is now vacant.
TVLINE | Clever wording, sir.
THANKS. We also confused a number of people. Yes, it’s a mistake, but legitimate, I think.
TVLINE | Ted’s gift to Alice at the end is ultimately that promotion to head coach, which she more than deserved. But in episode 2, before canceling his parting gift, was he then going to offer her his job, only to realize that he had to stick around and guide her? Or did he have a different gift in mind?
No, it was the gift to her, but it was because he was going to send her off with the full confidence that, “Hey, you’re going to be a manager somewhere. And so I made this nameplate as a North Star.” And then somewhere between making this thing and the day he gave it to her, he realized, “No, I need to give her an extra push. There’s something special here, and we need her on board.” So he wasn’t planning on quitting yet, but he could see from the start that she was a good coach and just needed to work on a few things.
TVLINE | Did you reveal that it was Alice who was playing with Ted’s chair all season, just waiting to drop it, or was that something you came up with later?
Jason was really interested in the chair thing early on, and (Ted) didn’t mention (something was wrong with his chair) to Alice until later, but that doesn’t mean (Jason) didn’t think about Alice’s thing all along. He doesn’t always mention everything he thinks about. Only the inner workings of his mind knew for sure, but it was definitely all him. And it wasn’t a writers’ room thing. This is something that started happening on set. But if I had to bet, I’d bet he thought it was Alice all along. He just didn’t care to share it until it was necessary.
TVLINE | We last see Roy and Keeley walking out of Nelson Road after Roy packs up his office to take up the head coaching job at Chelsea. Initially, I wondered if this meant Brett Goldstein might leave before a potential Season 5. But Roy’s role as head coach of the Richmond men’s team wasn’t exactly central this season, and there’s clearly more of a story to tell with Roy and Keeley now that they have a baby on the way. Is it safe to say that Roy doesn’t need to coach at Richmond to continue to be a part of the Richmond family?
Yeah, perfect. There’s also the reality that Brett does a lot of things. He has a lot of concerts. And so that potentially allows us to have our cake and eat it too, or particularly Brett to have his cake and eat it too. But yeah, like you say, we’re not dealing with the men’s team anyway. So to the extent that Roy is a part of Keeley’s life, his job doesn’t really matter compared to who he is. And despite what we make it look like in Episode 8, Chelsea isn’t that far away provided you plan carefully. So have a car that isn’t stupid. There’s no reason to think he’s gone forever.
TVLINE | But it seems like this is potentially a solution to a logistical hurdle if, say, you don’t have Brett in as many episodes, right?
Yeah, if Brett suddenly becomes James Bond or something, then we can’t fight that. We cannot fight this. And it’s the government. It is the British government which is coming to give us a kick. So yeah, that gives us wiggle room wherever we are, if we have a season 5 and if we have a Goldstein schedule to navigate.
TVLINE | I guess you can’t confirm that Brett Goldstein is James Bond…?
I can’t confirm this. I can only tell you what is in my heart.
TVLINE | There are a lot of familiar faces in the finale, but Sam and Nate are the only returning players who can actually talk. And both serve a purpose in Roy’s story: Sam helps him process Chelsea’s offer, while Nate’s return gives you the opportunity to reunite the Diamond Dogs when Roy needs them most. Was this selectivity intentional? Or did any of the other returning characters have dialogue or scenes that ended up in the editing room?
No, there’s nothing in the editing room. That was the main thing. And Sam’s dialogue was added quite late. We understood from the beginning that (with) the last game of the season, the win on that day would be them being sold out and the game wouldn’t matter by then. And we knew early on, whether we saw them earlier or not – and it was said that maybe we would see them earlier in the season – that somehow we were seeing the men’s team supporting the women’s team, and that could be a more palpable passing of the torch moment. So we always knew that this would be the situation.
We didn’t know for sure what we were going to do with Nate. We really wanted Nate to come. We went back and forth on a lot of things. I don’t even remember what other ideas we had, but then it was, “OK, where is he? He’s in Poland. Of course, Poland!” And finding a way to get him into one last Diamond Dogs seemed pretty irresistible once we got there.
TVLINE | When we spoke after episode 6, I asked if Alice’s relationship with her partner would play a bigger role in the final four episodes. You said to me, and I quote: “I don’t think I should answer.” But we never saw his partner again. So I have to ask: why so enigmatic? Was there anything else to this story at any point? Was something cut?
I don’t know, man. Maybe it was your fucking attitude. (Laughs) Why would I have been cryptic about that? I guess answering this would have revealed anything about what happened with Alice’s return (after her suspension), and how well it would or wouldn’t happen, basically. And also, you don’t want to say to someone, “Oh no, this new character?” You will never see him again. That said, if we get the chance to do more, we hope to see this character again because we love him a lot.
TVLINE | At the end of season 3, Ted says the story was never really about him. And a lot of this season revolves around him, in the background, learning that he doesn’t always need to have the answers. He can simply be present for the people in his life without offering folkloric words of wisdom. Alice now leads the team and Ted is her number 2. What does this look like in practice? Does he give in on things like pre-game pep talks? And does taking this step back professionally free up Ted for more story in his personal life in a potential Season 5 – especially after establishing that he’s ready to open his heart to someone new?
Those will be the questions, yes. His intention is definitely to spend more time with Ted – and he says this specifically when talking about Henry. But he was certainly slow to negotiate with the manager and then paid the price. So those are definitely threads that we’d like to continue following with Ted.
But also, what are the realities of the job of assistant coach? You can’t necessarily set your schedule as much as Ted thinks. Above all, he does not decide. It’s the boss who decides. And what kind of head coach will Alice be for her team? I don’t know. We’ll see.
TVLINE | Beard is probably the only person who knows that Ted is in for a rude awakening.
He could. He’ll be there to teach Ted the ropes.
TVLINE | Rebecca is heading into a potential season 5 with many of her professional and personal uncertainties resolved. She doesn’t have to worry about losing majority control of the club and she is newly engaged to Matthijs. Do you think we’ll see her struggle to fill Roy’s vacancy? Or does this newfound stability create room to focus more on his personal life, the same way Ted, as an assistant coach, might create room for his?
I don’t know how much of the men’s team we’re going to see develop now that the coach will probably be someone we don’t know. And again, seeing the guys there was supposed to be a passing of the torch moment.
Look, we never knew if there would be more than that or not, but we kind of played into it with the hope that there would be (more beyond season 4). And that’s why, as far as the (women’s) team is concerned, we’ve only seen small pieces of it, because we have a long-term vision. If you go back to Season 1, we didn’t learn much about the players outside of Jamie and Roy, and a little bit of Sam. In Season 2, we started to get interested in them and really (deepen) their stories. And in season 3 we get to Colin and stuff like that. So we’ve been very judicious as far as meeting the team and getting to know them for that reason.
Is adopting a long-term vision a bit presumptuous? Maybe…
TVLINE | But it seems like you came back with another three-season arc in mind.
We’ll see about that. But at the very least, by allowing men to officially pass the torch, in some ways it frees us up to be with the (female) team more.
TVLINE | Much of what has historically afflicted these characters —…
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