While the first 4 episodes of 10 were screened in advance, for embargo reasons, some story details will be kept vague.

Just a year after COVID lockdowns took over the entire world, Ted Lasso became a universal source of comfort for millions. The Apple comedy series united critics and audiences in its all-consuming positivity, earnest characters, obsessive love of team sports, and whip-smart wordplay dialogue. By its second year, Ted Lasso had blown up so large that two additional episodes were added to the season season per Apple’s request. By season three, though, the ambition of the series went straight to the behind-the-scenes team’s head, with showrunner Bill Lawrence stepping down, controversial character turns, a handful of garishly-shot sequences, and worst of all, laborious runtimes per episode for a series that works best short and sweet. No television comedy series should have episodes that pass an hour and 10 minutes!

Despite a handful of promising storylines, Season Three ended sloppily and closed the book on the mustached altruist. However, nothing ever is truly gone in the world of streaming content and capitalist regurgitation. Jason Sudeikis returns as the Kansas City, Kansas-bred optimist coach, unable to truly rest easy back home after the character finally returned home to his family, most specifically his son Henry. But a few very pivotal characters fly in from London to offer Ted a chance to “reboot” Richmond’s women’s football team. The premiere episode is almost entirely set in Kansas City, Kansas (as well as crossing the tracks to Kansas City, Missouri) and squeezes every joke out of its setting as team owner Rebecca Welton (Hannah Waddingham), PR executive Keely Jones (Juno Temple) and Director of Communications Leslie Higgins (Jeremy Swift) explore the area with a fish-out-of-water lens. Many of the jokes feel a bit obvious, even for those unfamiliar with the city and its border, but there is some charming amusement with Rebecca’s love of a good old American barbecue.

Of course, Ted accepts the job, bringing his son along with him this time. Henry (original actor Gus Turner recast with actor Grant Feely for an expanded role), while vital to Ted’s emotional arc of the first three seasons, feels a bit forgotten here despite his tagging along, but now attends school with Roy Kent’s (Brett Goldstein) niece Phoebe (Elodie Blomfield). Further episodes supposedly promise a more “athletic role” for Ted’s son, seeing Henry possibly take apart in the sport his father coaches. Kent, now manager for Richmond’s male team, attempts to explore new romantic paths, but it’s clear that his eyes are still set on Keely, despite their falling-apart. Ted’s new role as women’s coach must do his best to wrangle a fairly oddball and aggressive team but, even more-so, win over the trust of assistant coach Alice Chilton (Tanya Reynolds) whose complicated life and personality nearly cause her to leave the team before Ted even introduces himself. Reynolds, who herself showcased quirky charm in Netflix’s Sex Education, is a strong secondary lead that helps Season 4 feel fresh, grounded, and gives Ted new personal challenges in understanding his own boundaries as a leader.

The female team swap definitely points its finger at some tropey gender dynamics, and many of the team do still feel anonymous in the first four episodes (outside of Lizzie, played by Andor‘s Faye Marsay), but there is hope for room to grow attached to these new players. Yes, many of their personalities are “this girl is crazy!” much like a handful of the men’s team were “hot-headed”. As long as this season can give each member a proper time to shine without indulging too much in drawn-out subplots, we could be in good hands. One character that feels included for obligation-sake rather than necessary plot reasons is Coach Beard (Brendan Hunt), who begins the season in a reclusive rut, requiring Ted’s return to pull him back into his original position. By the time he shakes the dust off of himself, his role fades back to being Ted’s first responder with every observative conversation.

Ted Lasso in its fourth season feels a bit like blockbuster-juggernaut, Spider-Man: Brand New Day (a sentence I didn’t think I would write, but let me explain). Both are fresh starts after a three-part story arc that attempt to course-correct certain elements many fans felt cheated by. In Spider-Man’s case, it was the twisting of Peter Parker’s origin story for three movies to finally get a “proper” version of the wall-crawler in its fourth go-around. Ted Lasso‘s fourth season trims things back to basics, attempting to even rekindle a romance that fans fought hard for, with the hope that its audience will embrace a new, yet still familiar direction. The problem so far with Ted Lasso is that it is still bloated with 45-minute episodes and its rebooted narrative just feels like lukewarm leftovers. It does feel cozy enough to spend more time with Richmond’s eccentric community, but not enough to justify reopening the coffin. Whether its the lack of original showrunner Bill Lawrence, whose Shrinking (also on Apple) has gotten exceedingly better with each season or the spark of the original character dynamics of the beginning of the series now completely evolved since embracing Ted’s cornball personality, the new season feels like an ice cream cone compared to the original series’ banana split sundae. Sweet and filling, but plain.

The first episode premiere of “Ted Lasso,” premieres on August 5, 2026, with new episodes every Wednesday, only on Apple TV.