‘Ted Lasso’ Stars Tease “Hopeful” Season 4 Finale After That Major Turning Point for the Team

Published Sep 30, 2026, 3:00 PM EDT

Meredith Loftus is a TV Lists Editor at Collider. As part of the Lists team, she creates both trending and evergreen list topics in order to engage Collider's active audience. Prior to this, she was a Features Author focused on both movie and TV topics. In addition to her editing role, she has covered major events for Collider, including San Diego Comic-Con and D23. Meredith has also conducted interviews with creatives across the entertainment industry. Some of her favorites include Margot Robbie, Luke Thompson, Yerin Ha, Gilmore Girls' Scott Patterson, Jon M. Chu, and the cast of Superman & Lois. 

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Editor's Note: The following contains spoilers for Ted Lasso Season 4, Episode 9.

Summary

• In an interview with Collider, Tanya Reynolds and Abbie Hern explain how ‘Ted Lasso’ Season 4 marks a turning point for Alice and Gemma, with Ted’s support helping Alice open up and Gemma find the confidence to commit to football.
• Reynolds teases a “hopeful” Season 4 finale, while Hern offers the cryptic word “circle” before both settle on “Believe.”
• Reynolds previews a changed Caroline Bingley in ‘The Other Bennet Sister’ Christmas special, while Hern reflects on the Queen Elizabeth arc she wishes ‘My Lady Jane’ had explored.

The Lady Greyhounds have taken Richmond by storm in Ted Lasso. The fourth season turns over a new leaf as Ted (Jason Sudeikis) returns to the organization to help lead the newly established women’s team. But he isn't their first coach; Alice Chilton (Tanya Reynolds) is there to meet him and initially planned to exit. However, Ted convinces her to stay, and together, plus Coach Beard (Brendan Hunt), they turn this team into a force to be reckoned with.

Part of that is due to striker Gemma Jay (Abbie Hern), who has a complicated history with Coach Chilton. Up until Season 4, Episode 8, "Follow the Anger," Alice has been pushing Gemma harder than the other players. When Gemma gets injured to the point of facing surgery and potentially quitting the sport altogether, Alice breaks down in tears in a rare moment of vulnerability. When Ted walks in on her, he silently sits with Alice while she cries, supporting and validating her feelings. Later, his "there's crying in football" speech to the team is an indirect message to her without putting a spotlight on her in public. Ted's support gives Alice the encouragement she needs to convince Gemma not to give up football.

Ahead of Season 4, Episode 9's "Mae Rides the Bus," Abbie Hern and Tanya Reynolds spoke with Collider about the impact of "Follow the Anger" and how it marked a turning point for both Gemma and Alice. The actresses reveal the depth of respect Alice and Gemma have for each other, and they tease the upcoming Season 4 finale in just one word. Plus, Reynolds previews Caroline Bingley's return in The Other Bennet Sister's three-part Christmas special coming to BritBox later this year. In addition to this, Hern reflects on the premature cancellation of Prime Video's My Lady Jane while praising her former co-star, Widow's Bay star Kate O'Flynn.

COLLIDER: What has it meant for the two of you to see the reaction to Alice and Gemma over the course of this season?

TANYA REYNOLDS: I was really worried that people would hate Alice. I'm sure there are people out there that do hate Alice. I've been surprised that a lot of people have given her a very warm response. So that's been really lovely.

ABBIE HERN: Same. On my end, we were all kind of a little bit nervy about it. It's a new team. Are they going to accept us and accept the concept of the whole thing? People have been really, really lovely and supportive. It's been really nice.

Tanya Reynolds Breaks Down Alice's Most Vulnerable 'Ted Lasso' Scene

"It would have been her absolute worst nightmare to be that vulnerable at work, a place where she's always trying so hard to be tough and strong."

Image via Apple TV

Tanya, it was such a powerful moment in Episode 8 for Ted to sit in silence with Alice as she cried. Ted has really stepped in to help guide her as a coach, but what do you think it meant to Alice for Ted to sit with her as a person in such a vulnerable place?

REYNOLDS: I think it was the best thing he could have done. It was the best way he could have responded to her. I think initially, him coming in and catching her in that state, for her, it would have been her absolute worst nightmare to be that vulnerable at work, a place where she's always trying so hard to be tough and strong. She's actively putting on this front of impenetrable stone. To be caught in that situation where she's in that emotional state, I think, was the worst for her. It was the absolute worst thing that could have happened. But obviously, being caught in that state, it's not something that you can just stop. She couldn't just spring up and crack on and pretend it hadn't happened. She was there in the midst of it.

I think that Ted responded in a way that was probably the best way that Alice could have hoped for. Just not asking her any questions about it. Not asking her to talk about it or to delve into it. 'Cause I don't think she could have, and she certainly wouldn't have wanted to. But just to be there with her and so that she feels like she's not being judged and she's safe. He's just not really making a big deal out of it. Even if he'd have hugged her, I think that would have been a nightmare. By doing nothing, he's just showing that this is okay and the way that he addresses her indirectly through the team by saying there is crying in football. I think that means the world to her, probably because if you'd have told her that morning like "Oh, your boss is going to catch you crying at work today," she wouldn't be able to fathom how awful that would be. It was a real turning point for both her and Ted.

Abbie Hern and Reynolds Confirm a Turning Point in Gemma and Alice's Relationship

"Once they feel safe with each other, then I think they could be a really great team."

It's from that moment that galvanizes Alice to give her speech to Gemma. Though we don't really know their full history, it's clear that Alice is somebody who can get through to Gemma. For both of you, how do you think that speech was a turning point for both Gemma and Alice?

HERN: It's the moment, for sure, that Gemma feels safe to make the decision to put football first. When she joins the team, she's thinking of it as something that she can do alongside doing the thing that she's supposed to do, and yet not being the thing that she should completely commit to. At that moment, not only is Alice telling Gemma why it absolutely is the thing that she should commit to, but she's proving that she's going to be there through the thick and thin of it.

REYNOLDS: That speech that she gives to Gemma is the first time that you see her actually being, again, quite vulnerable and honest with Gemma. She's sort of addressing some of the complicated feelings that she has there about her. And I think it's huge. It's a massive step for her to be vulnerable in front of a player, especially someone that she has this history with. I feel like she makes herself really quite clear. It's a huge turning point in their relationship. It really softens both of them to each other.

HERN: Gemma so knows that Alice is capable of that as well. Even watching it back, I felt it in the moment when we were filming it. Gemma's taken aback by the yelling, but also she's not. She knows that Alice is capable of being like this. Gemma is so inspired by Alice. There's a part of Gemma in that moment that's like, "Yeah, this is the person I'm inspired by."

We even see that in Episode 9. Gemma comes in and messes with Alice's boards. She's really playful and can push her buttons a bit, but there is that trust that is between them when Gemma admits she felt something in her knee and could trust Alice to tell her. How do you hope for both of you to see that trust continue to grow in the future?

HERN: They've always known that they're on the same page. They just have very, very different ways of going about it. By the end of the season, as you said, in Episodes 8 and 9, you see this real trust in that we both know what we're doing now. There's no messing around, and so, if we just admit that we both are on the same page, then we can work together instead of against each other and get where we want to go.

REYNOLDS: Once they feel safe with each other, then I think they could be a really great team. Alice really believes in Gemma. She's in it for the long haul with her, in terms of her career. If there's just mutual trust there, and I think if Alice stops being so fucking sensitive about every little thing, if she can lighten up a little, they could be a really great team.

HERN: That's when the fun happens, too. They have great chemistry — the bouncing off each other, even when they're having serious conversations. They're constantly jabbing and joking with each other. When that trust is established, it is when those moments, you can see why people like them and why they like each other.

Looking ahead, is there one word you'd use to describe the Season 4 finale?

HERN: I find this really really really difficult without giving away anything. The answer that I've given previously is so ambiguous, but I used "circle." What does it mean? Nothing. Everything!

REYNOLDS: Oh my God, I don't know. Well, I guess, and in classic Ted Lasso fashion: Hopeful. Maybe it depends on your point of view, I guess.

HERN: Believe.

REYNOLDS: Believe. There we go.

Reynolds Says Fans Will See a "Changed" Caroline Bingley in 'The Other Bennet Sister' Christmas Special

"She's been to Italy. She's had some culture."

Image via BritBox

Tanya, The Other Bennett Sister is one of my favorite shows this year, and I'm so excited that Caroline Bingley is coming back for the Christmas special. How has Caroline changed from the last time we saw her to when we pick back up in the special?

REYNOLDS: She's changed quite a bit. That's all I can say.

She hopped over to find Ryder (Laurie Davidson) in Italy. Is she coming back a more cultured woman?

REYNOLDS: She's been to Italy. She's had some culture.

HERN: She changes after a bit of Italian food.

REYNOLDS: Yeah. [Laughs] She's seen a bit of the world. Yeah, she's in many ways changed and in many ways exactly the same Caroline Bingley we know and love.

Also, congratulations on joining An Oak Tree that was announced this morning. What is it about this play with such a unique premise that drew you to sign on for this?

REYNOLDS: I don't know. I think probably masochism. I don't know anything about the play. That's the point is that you don't know anything about it. You don't read it. You don't see it. It's been done hundreds of times before, but I've never seen it. I've never read it. There's a different actor every night. I think I just turn up, and on the day, I just go on stage. I think there's a script on stage. I think maybe an earpiece. It's just one night, and lots of amazing actors are doing it as well, including Dónal Finn, our lovely Mr. Hayward. Yeah, I don't know, we're just crazy people, actors.

HERN: Nuts. That's nuts.

REYNOLDS: Especially like an actor's worst nightmare is being on stage, not knowing any of your lines. And we're just doing it for a laugh. Yeah, I'll do that. Mad!

Hern Also Wishes There Was More 'My Lady Jane'

"I really would have loved the world to see Queen Elizabeth."

Image via Prime Video

Abbie, I am still out here waiting for justice for My Lady Jane.

HERN: Me too.

If it had continued, what would you have liked to have seen for Bess?

ABBIE HERN: She is Elizabeth I. She is one of the most notorious, longest-reigning royals. She's Elizabeth I, and she was vastly underestimated when she was Princess Bess. I really would have loved for the world to see Queen Elizabeth. I think they had a lot in store for her, and her feistiness and all the stories about how she ended up on the throne. She imprisoned people for no reason. That wasn't a very Bess thing to do, so that arc would have been crazy. I guess we'll never know.

Between seeing you and Kate O'Flynn thrive on Apple TV right now, I feel like that's the consolation for us.

ABBIE HERN: Yes, you got us back. Kate's just the most incredible.

REYNOLDS: I've only just started Widow's Bay. Last night I watched Episode 4. I've been a fan of hers for years from her stage work, because she's incredible on stage. And I was watching that episode and about five minutes in I was just like, "She's fantastic."

HERN: In My Lady Jane, I would catch myself watching her doing scenes and then being like, "Oh, I'm in this." [Laughs] She's wild.

New episodes of Ted Lasso Season 4 premiere Wednesdays on Apple TV.

Ted Lasso

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  Ted Lasso

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  Rebecca Welton

American college football coach Ted Lasso heads to London to manage AFC Richmond, a struggling English Premier League soccer team.