Breaking Down the Second Season of Ted Lasso and What Might Be Coming Next

The final episode of Ted Lasso season 2 has finally come around, and whilst some plot points have been neatly wrapped up, some have been taken to a whole new level.

Ted Lasso has taken the world by storm, with Apple reporting the series as having the highest viewership of any series on the launch of season two, and going on to secure seven Emmy wins back in September. The much talked about show has had fans on the edge of their seats, but how did Ted Lasso season two end, and what could this mean for the upcoming season three?

WARNING: Ted Lasso season 2 spoilers below

The last episode of the season has tied up a lot of plot points ready for the following season, perhaps most notably that Richmond has been promoted again, moving them back up the ranks for the next season.

The relationship between Rebecca Welton and Sam Obisanya was another plotline to get wrapped up this season. The unlikely romance started after the pair had been speaking through a new dating app Keeley had been promoting, where members would chat to each other without seeing a photo of the other person. Although the show made several hints towards the mysterious man behind Rebecca’s phone being Ted, we found out it was actually Sam she had been talking to the entire time. Following a slightly awkward meetup where they both found out who they’d been speaking to, the pair started a bit of a will-they-won’t-they relationship.

The final episode appears to have pushed it into the won’t-they territory. Following Sam’s decision to stay at Richmond, he has a conversation with Ted and Rebecca about his decision. Whilst speaking to Ted as an indirect way to speak to Rebecca, he tells them that whilst he would have liked to have said he stayed because of his feelings for Rebecca, he actually stayed for himself, and that he needs to care less about what other people think of him. Whilst the breakup might have come as a shock to her, Rebecca doesn’t seem too upset. We see how impactful and important Sam’s new outlook has been to him, as in the following week’s Sam purchases an empty building which he plans to turn into a Nigerian restaurant.

This is a big moment for Sam, as a lot of the show has focused on him feeling a bit of a disconnect to his Nigerian heritage. Being in England and away from his family has definitely proven to be difficult for him, so him opening his own Nigerian restaurant is as though he’s been able to bring a piece of his home to England.

Keeley and Roy have been a major point of concern for many fans. Throughout the season the pair have faced their fair share of struggles, with the penultimate episode of the season seeing the couple coming to terms with some difficult truths. During a photoshoot, Keeley tells Roy that Nate had kissed her whilst they were out shopping and that Jamie had told her he still loved her at Rebecca’s dad’s funeral. Roy also reveals that his niece’s teacher had asked if he was married and that he just told her no without following up that he was in a relationship. The pair are left looking rather sombre, leading many fans to grow concerned for the future of their relationship.

Thankfully it appears all is well with Keeley and Roy. The episode picks up with them still as loved up as ever, with Keeley’s photoshoot doing well and her receiving funding for her own PR agency. Unfortunately, it wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows for the pair. In Keeley’s magazine spread the photos with Roy are nowhere to be seen, causing Roy to confide in the coaching team that he’d been hurt by this. Later on, following the team being promoted and Keeley moving on to start her new job, Roy plans a holiday for the pair. Having booked a place with good Wi-Fi so Keeley could still work, he planned to spend the holiday relaxing and not worrying about what he’s doing or eating for the first time in years, but Keeley insists she can’t go. During the tense scene, Roy asks Keeley if they’re breaking up, to which she responds that they aren’t and that she loves him, and encourages him to go on the holiday by himself. Roy, who is seemingly disappointed by this, takes a moment alone whilst Keeley continues moving boxes for her new workplace before he leaves the plane tickets on her desk. We don’t get to see whether he takes the holiday by himself or not, so whilst the pair still seem happy and in love, it seems like we might not be through the turbulence yet.

Perhaps the biggest plot thread throughout season 2 has been Nate’s sudden switch from Nate the Great to Nate the Not So Great. After being promoted to a coach for Richmond and finding success with his game plans, Nate slowly became much more irritable and unhappy. The season gave us some insight into his family life where he seems to battle for his father’s approval, coupled with the fact he had been the number one target for a lot of Jamie Tartt’s jokes whilst he was a kit man during the last season, some light is shed on why Nate takes a lot of his anger out on Will, the new kit man. His irritability with Will only grows after Will and the team buy him a shirt that says “Wonder Kid” on it following Nate’s mishap where he called himself a wonder kid and not wunderkind, the actual phrase, during a live interview. Whilst Nate initially plays along and thanks Will for the gesture when the team are there, later on, he confronts Will and tells him never to do something like that again.

In what was the biggest shock this season, the penultimate episode ended with Ted being informed that an article was going to be published the next day stating that he’d had a panic attack when he needed to leave a match early and that Nate had been the tip. The final episode opened with Nate appearing remorseful at times, but it all came to a head during the team’s final match of the season. Richmond are down 2-0 at halftime using Nate’s plan, with an angry Nate getting more and more irritated with the team, Ted confronts him. Nate angrily tells Ted that he’s been abandoned by him and that Ted is clearly only using his plan this game so that when they lose he can blame it on him. Nate is rather swiftly proven wrong, however, when we see Richmond get the tie they needed to be promoted again. Nate leaves the pitch instead of celebrating with the rest of the team, and when the team head into the locker rooms, Ted is greeted by perhaps the biggest betrayal yet, his yellow “Believe” sign ripped in half and on his desk.

Ted Lasso didn’t leave things there though. During the last shot of the series, following numerous jumps forward in time, we are told we are now 2 months following the final match that saw the team promoted, where Nate is working for West Ham United, the team that Rebecca’s ex-husband Rupert had just bought.

It was a blindsiding end to a fantastic season and one that many fans will be eager to see a follow up for.

Although we don’t have a confirmed release date for the third season of Ted Lasso, co-creator Bill Lawrence has said that the goal is to get the third season to premiere around August of 2022. Although the idea of a continuation past the third season has been touched on by the creators, they’ve made one thing clear: the initial storyline for the show was a three-season arc. This would imply all of the threads that have been left loose this season will be definitively wrapped up in season three, even if more seasons are on the horizon afterwards. But what exactly could we be seeing next season? Well, we have some predictions.

There’s no doubt that the third season of Ted Lasso will open with Nate working at West Ham for Rupert. Nate was responsible for a lot of the winning tactics that Richmond enjoyed during season two, so it stands to reason that West Ham is likely to benefit just as well from Nate’s game plans. Losing Nate and having him join an opponent may spell out trouble for Richmond in future games as they’ll have lost Nate’s ideas and West Ham will have important intel on how Richmond’s players play out on the pitch.

However, at Ted Lasso‘s core, it’s a kind show about love and support. We struggle to believe Nate will stay not so great and imagine he’ll probably find his way back to Richmond again before the season is over. If we’ve seen anything from the time Rupert has been on our screens, it’s that he’s pretty mean-spirited and conniving, so we anticipate this getting Nate down and pushing him to apologize and join Richmond again.

Love’s young dream Keeley and Roy have managed to stay strong throughout their relationship, despite the ups and downs they’ve faced. Perhaps it’s just our inner softie, but we can’t see these two being anything other than the endgame for each other. A lot of time has been dedicated to making the pair work and grow together for it to end badly for them, and going off the assumption that the initial three-season arc stays in that format, whilst I think it’s right to anticipate some more downs, I think the time to break them up would have been this season if that was in the plan, and that there are many more ups on their forecast in the future.

Sam took to the spotlight this season, and it doesn’t seem like that’s slowing down any time in season three. With some major story moments revolving around Sam during the second season, Sam is headed into Season three as a restaurant owner with some newfound confidence in himself. We saw on multiple occasions how important Sam’s identity and beliefs are to him.

From him making the decision to drop the Dubai Air sponsorship as soon as he found out the damage they were causing to his home country Nigeria, to passing up the opportunity to play on Edwin Akufo’s newly acquired team to stay with Richmond; we can’t see how Sam couldn’t continue into season three without making more of a positive impact to everyone around him. We imagine season three will bring Sam extra attention with his new business venture and his fantastic football skills, and hopefully, we’ll see his new restaurant helping him feel more connected to his family and his home.

One of the biggest fan outcries has been for Rebecca and Ted to get together. At times it looked like this season was headed that way, most notably during the Christmas episode where the pair spent the day giving presents to families who had fallen on hard times. Nonetheless, season two ended with them both still single. The relationship between Rebecca and Ted is a hard one to call, the pair clearly have the closeness and the foundations to build a romantic relationship with each other, but that’s also what makes them such good friends.

It really feels like a 50/50 chance, but if we were going to bet on it, we’re leaning towards a relationship blossoming between the two late in the game (like, final two episodes late in the game) following a long season of hinting. Rebecca and Sam’s breakup and Ted beginning the road to recovery following his divorce and struggles with anxiety conveniently opens up the space for them both to find a new relationship in season three.

As for Richmond and the team as a whole, we’re feeling pretty confident that the following season is going to show a lot more wins for Richmond. Ted takes on the team when they’re in need of a lot of improvement, and the show has focused on Ted and the team working and learning together to get better success on the pitch.

Although losing Nate will undoubtedly cause issues, if we were going to guess the overarching storyline of season three, it would be that Richmond is doing much better, securing more wins, and a major game in the final episode will revolve around themselves and West Ham, where Nate will have a change of heart and return to help Richmond secure the win.

Overall, it’s evident by that shocker of a final episode, with Keeley opening up her own PR firm, Sam venturing into a new business, and Nate turning his back on Richmond to join West Ham United, it’s safe to say that season 3 will be full of a lot of dramatic and gripping moments, but most importantly for Ted Lasso, a lot of kind and comedic moments too.