'Ted Lasso' Season 3 Faces Filming Delays

In television, timing is everything. His Dark Materials, which might have hit big in 2012, is one of the many also-rans of the prestige era in 2022. A series that's ahead of its time, like Life on Mars, struggles to find an audience in 2006 when in 2016, its time travel twisty storytelling would be a grand slam. On the other hand, something like Ted Lasso was right on time. The gentle, feel-good, fish out of water comedy about an American football coach hired to run a British football team was perfect for the summer of 2020 when we all needed the televised equivalent of a hug.

Season 2 struggled a bit as fewer people wanted TV shows to hug them, but Season 3 (initially planned as the series' final season) seemed poised to arrive in the summer of 2022, whether we were ready for hugging or not. But apparently, things aren't going quite to plan. The filming start date for the new season was originally supposed to be January 2022, but then it slipped back to February 2022, and now delays are starting to mount. Though Apple TV+ has not responded to requests for comment, at least one of the show's actors/producers doesn't think the new season will be ready by July.

Speaking to TVLine, series co-creator and star Brendan Hunt (Coach Beard) confirmed the series still hasn't started filming Season 3, despite two deadlines to begin passing. So what's the problem? Go figure; it's football. Not the games on the show, but actual real live football. According to Hunt: "We're in pre-production and scripts are written," but there's a "football wrinkle."