Two foundational characters in the hit comedy series “Ted Lasso,” AFC Richmond’s Director of Football Operations Leslie Higgins (Jeremy Swift) and former journalist of The Independent Trent Crimm (James Lance) left off with very different endings to Season 2.
Trent Crimm, a journalist at The Independent who Coach Lasso (Jason Sudeikis) wins over along with most of his contemporaries in the UK, gets fired from the newspaper for revealing an anonymous source (Nathan Shelley played by Nick Mohammed) who outed Ted’s panic attack during the Tottenham match in Season 2.
“I kind of started looking into the way that journalists think and what they have to do a little bit,” Lance told TheWrap at Monday’s Apple FYC carpet and panel. “In a way, it’s quite similar to being an actor in that you’ve just got to keep asking questions to get to ideally the truth, so there’s something about it that resonates with me.”
Lance wouldn’t divulge any details about what’s in store for his character in Season 3.
“What I can say is when I when I read the ending for Trent, I was so excited for him,” Lance said about Trent’s Season 2 ending. “It’s funny when you play a character that you just love that’s got some depth going on inside that you just want to dig into a bit more. It’s really lovely when he feels like that and he wants to dig into things a bit more and go a bit deeper. So I was really delighted and excited.”
When asked to describe the next – and potentially last — season of the comedy series, Lance summed it up with the phrase “It’s really good.”
Lance is Emmy-nominated for Outstanding Guest Actor in a comedy. His co-star Jeremy Swift, who was nominated last season for his supporting role of Leslie Higgins, shared his favorite parts of playing the character with TheWrap at the same event.
“My favorite part was diving through the window. I think it is episode six,” he said. “Because we just did it so many different ways. And it was one of those things where I was just given license because it says Higgins has difficulty getting through the window.”
Apart from his hilarious facial expressions and gagging noises, Swift reflects on his character’s growth in mentoring other characters.
“I love the fact that Higgins is — and it’s new to me because I’ve so long played a nerdy character or a character that’s been shunned — but, Higgins has sort of become an unusual sort of father figure in the show,” “He gives these oblique little sayings that people pick up on, altruisms or whatever. And so I really think that’s sweet.”
“Ted Lasso” Season 2 has received 20 Emmy nods, with both seasons available to stream on Apple TV+.
