Is Ted Lasso season 5 happening? Hannah Waddingham’s answer won’t settle your nerves

If you were hoping for news on Ted Lasso season five, you might want to lower your expectations – at least for now. Hannah Waddingham, who plays Rebecca Welton (the boss of AFC Richmond – football royalty by way of Apple TV+), has piped up about the show’s future. In typical British fashion, the answer is: a lot of shrugs, a bit of hope, and zero substance. Welcome to UK telly limbo.

Waddingham, pressed by Variety about when filming might kick off for a possible fifth run, came back with: 'Oh, I don’t know… Of course, always. Why would you not want to be around those magnificent writers and the greatest cast? We’d all probably do it if we didn’t get paid… don’t tell them that. But yeah, it’s a wonderful thing. Who knows? Who knows? I genuinely don’t know.'

Not exactly an announcement, but not a funeral either. Nothing’s confirmed. Nobody’s written off a next series – if Apple backs up a lorry full of cash, it could still happen – but the folks actually on the show sound like they’re in the dark along with the rest of us.

Where We Left Off

Rather neatly, the season four finale wrapped up enough plotlines to work as a curtain call – but left some doors wedged open. The episode, called ‘Being Alive’, didn’t go for one of those everything-burns-down cliffhangers, but made sure fans have things to wonder (or grumble) about.

• Ted (Jason Sudeikis) stepped down as head coach of the Lady Greyhounds. He tapped Alice Chilton (Tanya Reynolds) as his successor, with him and Coach Beard now serving as her assistants. Not a demotion exactly, more a shuffling about the place.
• Roy Kent (Brett Goldstein) quit as AFC Richmond manager to take over at Chelsea – which is about as controversial as you’d expect in the Premier League. His story’s suddenly wide open, depending if the writers fancy following him over to his new bluesy stomping ground.
• Roy and Keeley Jones (Juno Temple) discovered they’re expecting a baby, because apparently even this show can’t escape the classic ‘bundle of joy’ plot twist.
• Hannah Waddingham’s Rebecca got engaged to Matthijs (Matteo van der Grijn) – yep, that happened – and kept her grip on majority ownership of Richmond after Mae’s will conveniently delivered her the needed shares. It’s almost football boardroom fan fiction at this stage.

Season 4 of Ted Lasso finished with Ted handing the Lady Greyhounds to a new head coach and Rebecca securing her spot at AFC Richmond’s helm.

So everyone more or less got an ending, but if the Apple scripts come calling, they could all be dragged back in for more. Until then, that’s the latest: uncertainty wrapped in nice words, which – depending on your level of desperation – is just how telly is sometimes. All four series are hanging about on Apple TV+ if you want a rewatch while waiting for the next non-announcement.