Believe: The Untold Story Behind Ted Lasso

By Jeremy Egner

Publisher: Penguin Random House, LLC

Review by Kristin Clarke

(originally scheduled for December 2024)

Believe by The New York Times television journalist Jeremy Egner is a gift for fans of Ted Lasso, the dramedy TV series that ran for three beloved seasons and lifted millions of viewers temporarily out of their COVID-19 pandemic misery. When the hit series launched on Apple+ TV– barely an infant at the time–the world was frozen in place. Ordered to shelter in place, viewers needed mental escape. They needed a reason to smile and laugh again. They needed to kick something. Turns out, Ted Lasso and its British soccer fiefdoms let them do all that and more.

Believe promises to take fans onto the sets and deep “into the show that kicked its way into our hearts.” With such a rich cast of talent, pitch-perfect dialogue, and well-honed timing, it’s not surprising that its worldwide viewership demanded to know what was behind the screen, as well as what and who were on it.

But the fame wasn’t instant, as the book documents. Ted Lasso doesn’t follow the normal script for development of today’s fast-fashion-style comedies. Nor did its premise evoke immediate cheers. But when it did—the way a hometown underdog team can slowly galvanize an entire local community–the up-and-down saga of gosh-golly Kansas City soccer coach Ted Lasso (Jason Sudeikis), groovy American sidekick Coach Beard (Brendan Hunt), and the cast of engaging players and characters–scored big.

Fans will love meeting the actors and people that embue the characters while learning the true history of the series’ premise and its quiet, core reminder of the power of human kindness. For those serious about writing as craft, though, Believe offers semi-instruction in the risk-taking required to fuel such pioneering comedic writing and why the already-famous Sudeikis took 10 years for the series to finally earn airtime.

Author Egner pays worthy attention, too, to the many darker subjects that sparked debates of whether the series was a comedy or drama. Its ever-flawed characters experience divorce, sexism, betrayals, mental health crises, trauma, parental and spousal emotional abuse, anti-immigration prejudice, the reach of tyranny, and even the potential death of human decency. Not typical topics for comedians known more for their stand-up skits and Saturday Night Live satire.

But the series and therefore the book also speak to universal human qualities and needs: friendship, love, loyalty, jealousy, competitiveness, compassion, and family in its broadest sense. For instance, renowned stand-up artist Brett Goldstein is a real-life, respected writer who—on a spur—decided to audition and ultimately was chosen to portray Roy Keane. The character is a gruff, obscenity-spouting elite athlete struggling to accept his physical limitations and reinvent himself—not anything like Goldstein’s personal brand. However, the comedian credits much of his character’s—and the show’s—success to their reflection of “the ways we make ourselves vulnerable or not to those we love.”

Fans—especially those who write—will be fascinated, too, to learn of hidden structures that anchor and slowly unroll each season such as the subtle start-and-finish shot of whichever character was the focus of that season: first, Rebecca, the wronged and vengeful divorcee originally determined to wreck her ex’s beloved soccer team; second, Nate, the locker-room-janitor-turned-“Wonder-Boy” pro coach whose betrayal of the team and staff power his way to the top and back again; and third, Ted, the aviator-glassed laughing stock and soccer illiterate determined to turn boys into good men on and off the field. The writers were so determined to be true to their characters and story arch that scripts remained a scrawling work in progress practically up to scene shooting. The near-improv technique required great trust by and collaboration among the actors to refine every joke, look, and line. This is intimate art-crafting at its best.

Unsurprisingly, in real life, the cast is emotionally close, according to the book, and the actors still communicate regularly despite the show’s finale in mid-2023. Their mutual admiration and love enrich the on-screen banter with authenticity and provide further humor that adds to the feel-good vibe after each episode—and chapter.

Armed with Egner’s insider information, readers might want to treat themselves to a rewatch of the series or use the free introductory period on Apple+ to binge-watch this cultural phenomenon–and hope, as the author clearly does, to Believe in a possible fourth season. Indeed, in February, rumor had it that Coach Lasso would take on a women’s team in any series reboot, but to date, that’s all it is—rumor.