Here's Why Ted Lasso Season 3 Has Been Delayed For So Long

"Ted Lasso," the heartwarming Apple TV+ series that follows the ever-optimistic fish-out-of-water coach of the title, is having some AFC Richmond-like troubles in its highly anticipated third season. The end of 2021 saw a hopeful lead up to the start of production, with the cast arriving in London in January to shoot what is reportedly the final season. After that sunny start, a series of rewrites, production snags, and other unfortunate circumstances have stretched the series' production well beyond what was initially anticipated. When the series won the Emmy for Comedy Series at the 74th Emmy Awards, it made unfortunate sense when series star and co-creator Jason Sudeikis ended his speech with "we'll see you for season 3, at some point."

The series' surprising delays have caused concern among "Ted Lasso" fans, and led to a massive uptick in the series' cost (even over season 2, whose budget had already ballooned beyond that of the flagship first season). Thanks to a new report from Puck News about the series' troubled third season, we finally have an explanation as to why it has taken so unexpectedly long to complete.

The series' third season started promisingly enough, with the writer's room opening in September 2021 and the cast's aforementioned London arrivals at the beginning of 2022. According to the new report, the first snag was that Sudeikis determined the scripts needed major rewrites, punting the episode one shoot to March 2021. From there, the process was further postponed by shifting storylines and additional locations (including an initially-unplanned Amsterdam shoot in April 2022). Between those issues, massive plans for the final episodes, and elaborate post-production, the series' costs grew upwards of 20-30% than anticipated, while the series (which was expected to be finished in June 2022) will premiere well past its anticipated release date. 

While all this is disappointing for fans of the series, it has also caused its producers and stars other issues. With Warner Bros. producing the series and Apple licensing it, it creates a conundrum as for who pays for all the extra costs caused by these significant overages — it won't be negotiated until the season is finished. Additionally, while the ever-popular series has resulted in a slew of high-profile career offers for its cast, Warner Bros. has reportedly rejected most requests that they be let out of production for new projects. While Ted Lasso himself would likely encourage us to "be curious, not judgmental" about the delays, it's a troubling set of circumstances with still no precise end in sight.