James Lance, the actor behind Ted Lasso’s Trent Crimm, has opened up about his emotional reaction to reading the script for the show’s third season.
The fictional sports journalist for The Independent sees his role expanded in the latest series, which was released on Apple TV+ in March.
“In season three, Trent is really starting to relax, drop his defences and feel part of the game,” Lance, 47, told Variety in a new interview.
“And then there was also my experience as James Lance, having just come in now and again, to spending a lot more time on set with these people. I’m the new boy on the block. So, there was a lot of emotions flying around, for the character and for me.”
In series three, Trent becomes a series regular, sadly quitting his job at The Independent to go freelance and write a book about AFC Richmond, the show’s fictional premier league football club.
Lance revealed that a conversation he had with the show’s star and co-creator, Jason Sudeikis, 47, while filming the first season “changed the course” of his life.
“I told him, ‘This is why I think Trent’s the way he is. I think he grew up with a tough dad.’ And then Jason to me said, ‘Well, did you know, this series is all about bad dads?’ We just had this little chat and I’m saying I don’t think that Trent’s living the life he wants to live. That lasted about three minutes. And on reflection, it changed the course of certainly my life and Trent Crimm’s.”
Lance said he later received a text from Sudeikis, telling him that Trent would reappear in season two but would really emerge as a larger character in season three.
“The truth is I cried. And I said to my wife, ‘read this.’ And she read it and she burst into tears,” Lance said. “But we didn’t know much more than that. All we knew was there was plans for Trent Crimm, which means there was plans for me as an actor.”
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While the creative team behind the show, including writer Brett Goldstein (Roy Kent), have opened up about wanting the comedy to run for three seasons, there has been no official word on whether the latest episode, released 31 May, will be the series finale.
In a recent interview, Sudeikis told fans: “This is the end of this story that we wanted to tell, that we were hoping to tell, that we loved to tell.
“The fact that folks will want more and are curious beyond more than what they don’t even know yet – that being season three – it’s flattering.”
He continued: “Maybe once all episodes of the season [have been released], they’re like, ‘Man, you know what, we get it, we’re fine. We don’t need anymore, we got it.’ But until that time comes, I will appreciate the curiosity beyond what we’ve come up with so far.”
Read The Independent’s four-star review of Ted Lasso season three here.
Ted Lasso is available to stream in its entirety on Apple TV+.
