The Ted Lasso Season 3 finale, aptly titled “So Long, Farewell,” premiered on Apple TV+ last night giving fans the long-awaited championship showdown between AFC Richmond and West Ham. All season we’ve watched as Ted (Jason Sudeikis), Coach Beard (Brendan Hunt), and Roy (Brett Goldstein) have transformed Richmond into a top-tier Premier League team. Now, with Nate (Nick Mohammed) back on our heroes’ side, it’s got to be a given that Richmond will blow the villainous Rupert’s (Anthony Head) team out of the water, securing the victory Rebecca (Hannah Waddingham) has wanted for so long.
Of course, what probably matters more to Ted Lasso fans is whether or not the Season 3 finale is the end of Ted Lasso as we know it. All season long, series star and creator Jason Sudeikis has teased that he was looking to exit the series. While Apple remained coy about the future of Ted Lasso, we now seem to have an answer care of Ted’s “truth bomb.” Ted is returning to the United States to build a life with his son which means we’ve seen the last of Ted Lasso.
A few years ago I hopped on a plane with Coach Beard headin' to a little town in London. Tonight we play our final match.
It's like what I say about the films of David Lynch. I can't tell you what's happenin', but I sure as heck don't want it to end. https://t.co/6BZss7vh3q
— Ted Lasso (@TedLasso) May 30, 2023
Just because Ted Lasso is ending, that doesn’t necessarily mean that this is the end for the likes of Rebecca, Roy, Keeley (Juno Temple), and the rest of our favorite Ted Lasso characters. The Ted Lasso series finale opens the door for a number of potential spin-offs.
But what went down in the Ted Lasso Season 3 finale? Did Richmond prevail? Or did Rupert get the last laugh?
Ted Lasso Season 3 Ending Explained:
The 76-minute episode kicked off with… A TedBecca fakeout! We opened on Rebecca starting her day off in her kitchen, and after turning off a Rupert-related TV report, Ted (bedhead and all) walked in and asked “Do you want to talk about it?” What was IT? Did they finally kiss?! Nope! Coach Beard (in a full thong) and Jane followed in shortly after Ted and we learned they all crashed at Rebecca’s because of a deadly gas leak. And that thing Rebecca didn’t want to talk about yet? Ted’s big truth bomb, which was that he was going home for good and leaving his job as AFC Richmond coach.
Back in the locker room, the players were reacquainting themselves with their new Assistant Kitman — sorry, Assistant to the Kitman, Nate. (Another amazing Office reference from Ted Lasso.) And with nine days left until Ted’s departure, Trent Crimm gave him and Coach Beard advanced copies of his book, The Lasso Way, to read for feedback. Roy, confused about his future with Keeley, finally asked to join The Diamond Dogs. And after his cheating scandal was exposed (presumably with guidance from Rebecca), we learned Rupert was getting divorced.
At the top of the episode, Rebecca wasn’t ready to talk — let alone think — about Ted leaving, and she still isn’t ready when Higgins presents a folder full of potential replacement coaches. Instead, she considers selling the club entirely, but Higgins suggests she sell 49% to maintain majority ownership and still make a ton of cash.
Ted and Beard try their best not to draw attention to their final practice with the team in hopes of easing the blow of leaving, but Roy and the crew learned from the best and honor the title of the episode, “So Long, Farewell,” by getting their Sound of Music on the pitch and giving Ted a “perfect” farewell performance. Will even does his best Say Anything and lifts a boom box over his head.
After practice, Keeley stops by to bring Ted and Beard going away gifts, and on her way out, Roy catches her having a moment with Jamie. He invites Jamie out for a beer to have A Talk that starts off with more heartfelt bonding between the two new besties and ends in a fistfight over who should end up with Keeley. The two bloody mates show up at their mutual ex’s doorstep and tell her she has to choose between them, so she kicks them both out and they make up.
A visually stunning shot shows Rebecca joining Ted on the bleachers of an empty stadium when she’s finally ready to talk about his impending departure. “If you go I go,” she explains, telling him she decided to sell the club. But before she commits, she tries to make him one last offer: She’ll sell 49% of the club so she can make him one of the highest-paid coaches in the league, and he can move his son and Michelle out to live with him. The two share a heartwarming — mostly silent — moment of mutual love and respect, but Ted tells her he’s made up his mind. All that’s left to do is win the whole fucking thing.
After Ted and Rebecca’s big scene, we finally get him and Nate alone in the locker room together. Nate, who Ted caught staring at the empty space on the wall that used to hold his “BELIEVE” sign, breaks down into tears and apologizes for everything. Ted forgives him and the next thing we know, it’s game day and Roy is — at long last — asking to be a Diamond Dog. Following a moving conversation about change and perfection, the men head to the locker room and Beard presents a tear-jerking slideshow of team memories to inspire the team. Instead, it leaves them all weeping on the pitch.
Everyone from Michelle, Henry, and a reluctant Dr. Jake to Dr. Fieldstone is watching the big Richmond vs. West Ham match, but halfway through the game, Richmond has yet to score a goal. Ted brings the team into the locker room for one final motivational pep talk, and after a declaration of love for each and every one of them and an accidental gesture to the missing “BELIEVE” sign, the players surprise him with a yet another thoughtful, rom-com worthy grand gesture when they each whip out a ripped piece of the original sign that they saved and reassemble it in the middle of the locker room. Ted and Nate share a sweet look above the sign, and Ted says, “There it is, Number 4,” referring to the missing piece of their Total Football tactic.
A brutal string of missed goals leads to a comeback from Richmond that rattles Rupert so hard that he heads down to the field and pushes West Ham’s new coach (the same coach Rebecca fired in the pilot to hire Ted) to the ground. In the end, Richmond takes the win but ultimately comes in second to Man City in the Championships League. Rupert gets ousted from the team, Rebecca sells 49% of the club to fans, and Ted heads to the airport to hop on a flight to Kansas, City, Kansas. Before he heads out he sees two familiar faces: Ussie guy, and Rebecca, who came to give him one last rom-com moment in the form of a tearful farewell. The two kept things platonic but got much-needed closure, and Rebecca told him she wanted to stay with “her family” aka the team, so prophecy fulfilled. Right? Hold on.
After faking appendicitis, Beard deplaned to stay in London with the love of his life, Jane. And while leaving the airport, Rebecca bumped into Random Dutch Guy from Amsterdam and his daughter. So prophecy really fulfilled. In Ted Lasso‘s final minutes we see a montage of where the team ended up: Per a note from Ted, Trent changed the title of his book to The Richmond Way. KJPR is back. Roy becomes AFC’s new manager. Nate and Jade live happily ever after. Sam switches teams. Jamie and his dad reconnect. Rebecca and Dutch Guy seem to be endgame. (Sorry, TedBecca fans.) Keeley and Rebecca decide to start an AAFC Richmond Women’s team. Roy gets therapy from Dr. Sharon. Nate repairs and rehangs the “BELIEVE” sign with gold paint. And Beard and Jane get married.
Ted does make his way back home, where he becomes the coach of Henry’s football — sorry, soccer — team and passes down essential nuggets of wisdom like “be a goldfish.”
Will There Be a Ted Lasso Season 4?
Maybe? The ending of Ted Lasso Season 3 pretty much wraps up the series as a whole. Since Ted is returning to the United States, his journey with AFC Richmond has come to an end.
That said, it definitely looks like Apple TV+ is open to creating a spin-off starring some of the show’s most beloved characters. Perhaps it could focus on building the AFC Richmond women’s team? Though there are no updates on the future of the series, maybe Ted Lasso will return in another form with another title, a la Ted’s note to Trent: “I’d change the title. It’s not about me. It never was.”