Apple TV+ was ready to ring in the Christmas season early in the 2023 TV schedule thanks to Ted Lasso alum Hannah Waddingham and her musical extravaganza. Called Hannah Waddingham: Home for Christmas, the 45-minute special reunited Waddingham with friends and former co-stars while delivering enough festive tunes to truly feel like the most wonderful time of the year. After being joined by singers like Leslie Odom Jr. of Hamilton fame and Luke Evans from Beauty and the Beast on top of the Ted Lasso cast, Waddingham opened up about the "cream of the crop" guests for her holiday special!
Spoilers ahead for Hannah Waddingham: Home for Christmas.
Waddingham dueted with Odom Jr., Luke Evans, and her Ted Lasso co-star Phil Dunster, among others, in the special for Apple TV+ subscribers, while also welcoming Nick Mohammed, Kola Bokinni, Billy Harris, James Lance, and Brendan Hunt on stage with her. Brett Goldstein, Juno Temple, and Jason Sudeikis joined for scenes filmed elsewhere, but Hunt dropped a joke about wanting to duet with Waddingham and saying that Apple TV doesn't "stop you if you run long" with an extra song.
Ahead of the special releasing on Apple TV+, Hannah Waddingham answered questions from select press outlets. When asked by CinemaBlend about the challenges in fitting so many special guests into less than an hour, she shared:
Well, you know, when something is less than an hour like that, you need to make sure that you have absolutely the cream of the crop. And I was offered some fabulous guests, but I didn't feel like I had a particular connection with them. I felt like they would be there for showy off, for like show sake. And I wanted people that I knew one, would bring it and bring it straight away.
Believe it or not, there were more people on the list of potential guests than the ones who made the final cut! The singer/actress didn't specify the names of the "fabulous guests" who she was offered, but she certainly had a connection with the people she ultimately brought onto stage with her. Considering that she was honoring both her mother and her daughter, it only seems right that she felt a strong bond with those she worked with! She went on to explain how they pulled off filming the special, including the Ted Lasso cast members' reactions to being asked to participate:
We barely even needed to do another take. I had to have that first. I had to have people that have been in my life for, God, 25 years in the form of Scott Baker and Patrick Davy, the Fabulous Lounge Swingers. I knew I wanted the cast of Ted Lasso and I could have only dreamt that so many of them were like, hell yeah, we are in. And then the other artists, I have Leslie Odom Jr., Luke Evans, Sam Ryder. They are all people that I am massive fans of. And people like Luke Evans, who I've known from theater since we were about 20 years old. And I think that you feel that. You feel that there is nothing inauthentic.
While she had full duets and songs with the featured performers including Luke Evans, Leslie Odom Jr., Sam Ryder, The Fabulous Lounge Singers, the English National Opera, and the London Gay Men's Chorus, the Ted Lasso cast other than Phil Dunster mostly did less singing and more dancing, although Nick Mohammed delivered some of the best laughs of the special by trying to steal his former co-star's spotlight. I think it's safe to say that plenty of Ted Lasso fans were saying "Hell yeah" as well to their appearances in the special!
Whether Waddingham ever does convince the cast to get matching tattoos remains to be seen, though. The actress went on to explain why Leslie Odom Jr. was a great fit for Hannah Waddingham: Home for Christmas, as well as when the holly-jolly special filmed. She said:
There is nothing that's like here today, gone tomorrow just for the sake of the cameras. Leslie Odom Jr, I told him, was very much there because when I asked my, at the time, eight-year-old daughter who she would like me to sing with, the was the first thing that came out of her mouth was just like, mommy, please, please let it be Leslie Odom Jr. So all of the people that I had, they needed to be there with me. And I was just so thrilled that they could all converge on a very hot, sweaty 27th of May in London.
You wouldn't know it to watch the Apple TV+ production, but the celebration of Christmas with Hannah Waddingham actually taped back in May! While the reunions with Brett Goldstein, Juno Temple, and Jason Sudeikis didn't happen on stage, she and the SNL alum still shared a musical moment in a car at the very end. Their rendition of "Jingle Bells" didn't quite have the spectacle as their recent A Star Is Born collaboration, but it was a great way to end the special.
You can find Hannah Waddingham: Home for Christmas streaming on Apple TV+ now, along with all three seasons of Ted Lasso.
