With so many television shows competing for attention, finding something that an entire family actually wants to watch together can feel almost impossible. Juno Temple enjoys the fact that Ted Lasso has somehow managed to become one of those rare exceptions, bringing different generations together around the same show.
Temple is back as Keeley Jones for Season 4, returning to a world that has always been about much more than wins and losses on a football pitch. From the beginning, Ted Lasso has built its stories around friendship, second chances, unlikely relationships and the idea that people can occasionally surprise you when somebody gives them the opportunity.
Those themes aren’t exactly limited to one age group.
Juno Temple enjoys the way Ted Lasso brings generations together
Television has become increasingly specialized. There are shows aimed at teenagers, shows designed for particular fan communities and plenty of programming that knows exactly which demographic it wants to reach.
Ted Lasso has never seemed particularly interested in staying inside those lines.
For Temple, one of the show’s great strengths is that parents, children and even grandparents can potentially find something in it. Different generations may connect with different characters or parts of the story, but they can still sit down and experience the same show together.
That kind of shared viewing experience isn’t as common as it once was.
The television landscape has changed dramatically since the days when a handful of networks dominated the schedule and millions of people regularly watched the same programs at the same time. Streaming has given audiences more choices than ever, but all of those choices have also made genuine across-the-board hits harder to find.
Ted Lasso managed to break through anyway.
Its optimistic tone certainly helped. So did its ability to make an underdog story feel fresh without pretending that optimism magically solves every problem. Ted and the people around him have dealt with professional failures, complicated relationships, anxiety, disappointment and plenty of moments when believing things will work out isn’t enough.
The show just never loses its belief that people are worth rooting for.
And Juno Temple enjoys seeing how that positive approach can connect with viewers who might otherwise have very different tastes in television.
Ted Lasso Season 4 gives its underdog story a new direction
That philosophy remains especially important in Season 4.
Jason Sudeikis returns as Ted, who is back in Richmond and facing a very different challenge this time around. Rather than simply returning to the same AFC Richmond story viewers already know, the new season puts Ted in charge of a second-division women’s football team.
It gives the series another group of underdogs while allowing familiar characters to move into a new chapter.
Along with Sudeikis and Temple, Season 4 brings back Hannah Waddingham, Brett Goldstein, Brendan Hunt and Jeremy Swift, while introducing several new faces to the Ted Lasso world.
For a show built around taking chances on people, expanding that world feels appropriate.
And perhaps that is part of why Ted Lasso has been able to connect with such a wide audience in the first place. You don’t have to understand football to understand wanting somebody to succeed. You don’t have to be the same age as a character to recognize friendship, heartbreak, insecurity or hope.
Those things travel pretty well across generations.
That’s ultimately what Juno Temple enjoys about the experience. Seeing parents, children and grandparents find their own reasons to connect with Ted Lasso has become one of the most meaningful parts of being involved with the series.
Click on the video below to hear Juno Temple talk about why the multigenerational appeal of Ted Lasso means so much to her.
Ted Lasso Season 4 is currently streaming on Apple TV.
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