We remember: At the end of the second season of “Ted Lasso”, Nathan Shelley (Nick Mohammed), hailed by the press as the new tactician, as a “prodigy”, as “Nate The Great”, broke up with his mentor Ted (Jason Sudeikis). In the final scene we see a gray Nate on the training ground of a new team: West Ham United. He and AFC Richmond boss Ted are now rivals.
Much has been said and discussed about Nate’s transformation from bullied kitman to coaching genius, from fan favorite to bully. We thought why not talk to the man who should know best, Nate actor Nick Mohammed himself? He also received us directly in the West Ham United shirt for the zoom interview.
But before we talk about Nate’s transformation, we had to ask the question of all questions (see the headline above this article). And if you’re interested in how West Ham United got involved, it’s best to read the full article – there’s an excerpt from another interview at the end.
Nick Mohammed: “Not explicitly. But of course there are things that remind us of that, like his hair color changing to gray in season 2. We also discussed some aspects of his training style for season 2. But I think the similarities end there. We didn’t want that Nate would be too much like one person Many of Nate’s behaviors and quirks have more to do with his relationship with his father and how people have treated him in the past than are directly attributable to any specific personality in real life .”
Nate’s Story: A 3-Season Journey Planned From the Start!
Nick Mohammed: “The writers definitely had a three-part journey planned for Nate in their heads, and they executed it in exactly the same way. As you rightly say, they already planted the seeds for it in Season 1.
I tried to take notes as I went through the scripts because there are so many little Easter eggs hidden in them. Sometimes we rehearse a scene and then Jason says [Sudeikis] or Brandan [Hunt] or Joe Kelly [die drei Erfinder der Serie] to me, “That’s because of the season 2 and that’s because of this one and that will make sense if that scene is in a later episode.” I am constantly amazed at how many things they can juggle in their heads to keep coming back to those little dots.
It’s definitely very satisfying and rewarding when these little things are recognized by you and the fans in this way. And some you actually only recognize when you look at them again. Many of them are quite subtle. But yes, there were things in it that will become important and there will certainly be more.”
Nick Mohammed: “I’ll take on any role. If anyone from the Marvel Cinematic Universe reads this, I’d play any role, so give me a call. I love that Brett acted as Hercules. That’s pretty exciting.”
Nick Mohammed: “Oh, that’s a nice question. I think in the end it’s the support and love of a partner, a woman or someone else. For me, family support is indeed the secret to true happiness. I have three kids, we just had two weeks had a girl ago, so we are now in that newborn phase again.
Making each other laugh is also important to me. Humor is such an important part. Don’t take yourself too seriously, it can get you through many situations. If you can laugh about something, everything will be fine.”
How do you get West Ham United on board as a villain?
As announced at the beginning, we were still interested in how the partnership with West Ham United came about. The real football club is the fictional AFC Richmond’s biggest competitor in season three after Rebecca’s (Hannah Waddingham) ex-husband Rupert (Anthony Head) bought it and made Nate head coach. For this question, we spoke to Brendan Hunt, who after all not only plays Coach Beard on the show, but is also one of the creators and writers of “Ted Lasso”:
Brendan Hunt: “As far as I know it wasn’t that hard. But the negotiations themselves took place between the people in charge of the company. No one wants me there because I would like to have coffee on my shirt or something. It wouldn’t go very well.
But of course there was a very careful process of considering which team is the right one for Rupert to buy. Clubs like Arsenal or Manchester United were excluded, because those are too many top clubs. We also thought Rupert might want to stay in London. So there was only a very limited selection pool. We all agreed on West Ham, but the question was whether they were on board. Because technically they would be the villains.
But our thinking was, when we were kids ourselves and we watched sports movies, especially baseball movies — in all those movies from 1970 to 1985, the villains were always the New York Yankees. You’ve heard about the New York Yankees, right?
Brendan Hunt: “Even. It didn’t hurt them at all, it just made them bigger and more impressive. So we hoped West Ham would be receptive to that reasoning. But there’s still a risk on their part that they’ve taken and there we are them grateful for.”
The third season of “Ted Lassobegins on March 15, 2023. You can stream a new episode every week on AppleTV+. More interviews with the stars of the series will appear here with us in the coming days and weeks – sometimes only after certain episodes, so as not to reveal spoilers for the turbulent events.