Ted Lasso season 4 pivots to women's football, adds Welsh cast
Apple TV+ hit Ted Lasso will shift its focus to a women's football team for its fourth season, drafting Welsh actor Rex Hayes as the show taps into Europe's booming female game.
Ted Lasso is returning for a fourth season on August 5 with a drastic format change. Jason Sudeikis’s title character will leave Kansas to coach AFC Richmond’s new second-division women’s team, The Lady Greyhounds.
The pivot places the Apple TV+ comedy squarely within the rapid commercial and cultural expansion of women's football across Europe. As clubs and broadcasters invest heavily in the women's game, a major global streaming platform is anchoring its highest-profile sports comedy to a female squad.
Joining the established cast of Sudeikis, Hannah Waddingham and Brett Goldstein is a roster of European talent. Cardiff-born actor Rex Hayes has been drafted to play Siobhan, an Irish character whose on-pitch sibling rivalry with twin sister Niamh, played by Aisling Sharkey, drives much of the new plot. "It's exactly the same set-up: you meet new people, you fall in love with these characters on, and off, the pitch. There's all the coaching staff that you know and love, but with brand-new footballers," Hayes told Radio Wales.
The production required proven athletic ability from its new signings. Hayes, who played football extensively before attending drama school, secured the role after submitting a skills tape filmed in a London park. "I remember when I went in for my first meeting, having sent off that tape, Theo - the casting director - was like, 'you're very good at football'. I was like: 'yes, I am - remember that!' And lo and behold, here I am."
For European industry observers, Hayes’s casting highlights the continued role of regional public broadcasting and cultural institutions in feeding the global streaming economy. The actor explicitly credited a Welsh-language education, the Eisteddfod festival, and the Welsh broadcaster S4C as the foundational pillars of their current success.
"I am under no illusion that going to a Welsh-language school, and being part of the Eisteddfod for most of my youth, is a big part of the reason why I now do the job that I do," Hayes said. "It gave me a platform and taught me a lot of what I know."
Hayes will return to this year's Eisteddfod in Llantwd, north Pembrokeshire, this weekend to watch their mother perform. The Lady Greyhounds squad also features Game of Thrones alumna Faye Marsay, Abbie Hern, Jude Mack and Tanya Reynolds. Ahead of the August premiere, Hayes asked existing fans to give the new squad a fair chance. "One of my favourite quotes from the show is: 'be curious, not judgemental'. That's my ethos for anyone meeting the show this season."
