{"id":865753,"date":"2026-09-30T10:28:12","date_gmt":"2026-09-30T10:28:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/865753\/"},"modified":"2026-09-30T10:28:12","modified_gmt":"2026-09-30T10:28:12","slug":"ted-lasso-season-4-actor-bids-farewell-to-character-who-dies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/865753\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Ted Lasso’ Season 4 Actor Bids Farewell To Character Who Dies"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tSPOILER ALERT: This post contains spoilers for Ted Lasso<\/a> Season 4, Episode 9, titled \u201cMae Rides The Bus,\u201d now streaming on Apple TV<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe title of the second-to-last episode of Ted Lasso Season 4 hints at a goodbye to a beloved character who has been around since the first season.<\/p>\n

\n\tEpisode 9 bids farewell to Richmond\u2019s own Mae Green (Annette Badland) who dies doing what she loves: supporting the Lady Greyhounds at their away match against Bristol City in the stands.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThat\u2019s what happens. You\u2019re involved with folks, and they disappear. They go, and she loved her life,\u201d Annette Badland told Deadline. \u201cShe made the very best of her life and really relished it. So she went, I suppose, for her, in the very best way.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Crown & Anchor pub owner was invited to take the team bus to the away game after she had hinted that it would be difficult for someone with her \u201clevel of seasoning\u201d to make the two and a half hour drive. Thus, Ted (Jason Sudeikis) and Coach Beard (Brendan Hunt) invite her on the shuttle with all of the players, and they embrace Mae as one of their own on the drive.<\/p>\n

\n\tRELATED: \u2018Ted Lasso\u2019 Episode 6 Recap: Phil Dunster Returns & New Believe Sign Debuts On New Year\u2019s Eve<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI love the Lionesses, so I was thrilled when [Season 4] happened, and the girls are tremendous and effervescent and glorious to be around. The pub quiz scene took a couple of days to shoot, but that was like a tidal wave coming,\u201d Badland said. \u201cThey are just so full of energy and life. So that was just something wonderful to be involved in, and just enhanced all the feelings and the camaraderie. And Mae couldn\u2019t play football, wasn\u2019t allowed to play football, I\u2019m sure she\u2019s had a lot of bad stuff in her life, but she just carries on and defies the odds and just keeps on pitching. That\u2019s an excellent story to tell.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIn the below interview, Badland unpacks Mae\u2019s legacy left on the series, transitioning from the men\u2019s team dynamic of the first three seasons to the Lady Greyhounds and how Mae might come up in the finale episode.<\/p>\n

\n\tDEADLINE: Did you know about this episode for Mae when you signed on for Season 4? How did you react when you found out what would happen for her in Episode 9?<\/p>\n

\n\tANNETTE BADLAND: No, I didn\u2019t know, and I didn\u2019t know till about, I suppose, maybe November. We were only an episode away filming that. I was shocked, but I\u2019m very proud being in the show, and I admire Jason [Sudeikis]. I think the series is so successful because people smell it\u2019s very genuine. The audience know it\u2019s not made cynically. It\u2019s not a product. It\u2019s something Jason wants to say about the world and how we are, so you have to trust that.<\/p>\n

\n\tI don\u2019t know when I\u2019ll die. You just don\u2019t know. So, being told that it was going to happen quite close to it being filmed, you just have to go. \u2018Well, that\u2019s [that]. He told me in the storyline, so he started at the beginning [with] \u201cI invite her to come, and blah blah, and she won\u2019t drive, and then she comes to the grounds and she goes in the bus,\u201d and I\u2019m going, \u201cOh wow, this is\u2026\u201d and then \u201cShe passes.\u201d [Gulps.] But hopefully that\u2019s what will happen for the audience too.<\/p>\n

\n\tDEADLINE: How did you want to approach the speech you gave in the locker room before the game? There\u2019s the moment in the bus before where they\u2019re like, \u201cWe\u2019re gonna grill you about your whole life and everything you know. How did you approach those scenes with the end of the episode in mind? What you wanted to leave on the field, for lack of a better way to put that?<\/p>\n

\n\tBADLAND: I think not giving in. She\u2019s very outspoken. She\u2019s a lioness who will defend you till the nth degree once you\u2019ve got her heart and respect. Being an older woman, where you do become invisible, Mae\u2019s never going to be invisible. She will not allow that to happen. I get ignored. You\u2019ll stand at a counter, and people won\u2019t bother, or they\u2019ll walk into you. \u201cYou\u2019ve had your time, move aside.\u201d And Mae would not allow that, and was still in there pitching and relishing.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"L-R:<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tL-R: Jason Sudeikis and Annette Badland in Season 4 of \u2018Ted Lasso\u2019<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tApple TV<\/p>\n

\n\tDEADLINE: What does it say about her that she wants to sit in the audience stands or the supporters side versus the box with Rebecca and everyone?<\/p>\n

\n\tBADLAND: Yeah, not her people, and she might have felt constrained. \u201cWell, I\u2019m not going to sit and behave myself or feel the fool because I\u2019m sitting with you.\u201d I\u2019ll go where the folk that really scraped together to get the money, who are dedicated, [are sitting]. Even although it was her pub, she\u2019s not part of a hierarchy. Everybody\u2019s judged on how they are. Just not her style. Go and be with the real fun.<\/p>\n

\n\tDEADLINE: There\u2019s the hint of the shares and the battle that\u2019s going on there. And Mae has shares, and she was like protecting her patrons at the pub. Can you tease anything about how could she could leave an impact that way too on the team?<\/p>\n

\n\tBADLAND: Well, she had a very large pile of shares. I mean, they were about \u201cyay high\u201d (gestures to table height she sits at.) She uses them to good effect. Her instructions are for them to be used in a particular way that is quite good.<\/p>\n

\n\tDEADLINE: I love her relationship with Ted\u2019s son this season too. I was hoping you could talk about working with Grant and any wisdom she maybe has left with him?<\/p>\n

\n\tBADLAND: He is a delight. He\u2019s a beautiful young man, and bright. We got on terribly well, and I shall miss him. Really, it was great having that element in the pub too. Another side of her. I can\u2019t tease you with anything, I don\u2019t think, but he knows what he\u2019s doing now with a tea towel.<\/p>\n

\n\tDEADLINE: Keeley\u2019s pregnancy is revealed in 409, and I\u2019ve heard some people talk about the cycle of life and how someone passes and then a new life comes into the world. So I was curious if you had any thoughts on those themes for episode nine?<\/p>\n

\n\tBADLAND: Oh yes, well it\u2019s absolutely true, isn\u2019t it? We move along. We\u2019re here for a very short time, and the next wave, the next group of people comes in. I\u2019m delighted for Keeley, just delighted, and poor old Roy.<\/p>\n

\n\tDEADLINE: This episode felt like such a great send off for Mae, but could we still see a funeral or something in the finale?<\/p>\n

\n\tBADLAND: You could, maybe. I guess, or it\u2019s like, \u201cOh well, that\u2019s it.\u201d [They could forget about her.]<\/p>\n

\n\tDEADLINE: What do you think she would want as a celebration of her life? Have you thought about that at all?<\/p>\n

\n\tBADLAND: Oh, she\u2019d have asked for a tremendous party at The Crown and Anchor. Everyone invited. Jason did modify some of 410. We talked after he told me about her passing, and he did, because that\u2019s how he is. He\u2019s responsive and collaborative. So he did change some of the stuff in 10, or incorporated what we talked about. She doesn\u2019t just [go away]. She has, not an appearance, but she is still within the context.<\/p>\n

\n\tDEADLINE: I\u2019m also worried-not worried, but the pub was her thing. So I hope it\u2019s in good hands in the future.<\/p>\n

\n\tBADLAND: So does she. Oh yes.<\/p>\n

\n\tDEADLINE: Anthony Head gets an acknowledgement in 409<\/a>, and Rupert gets his mention too. How did that all weave together with Mae also leaving? What are your thoughts on that? You had scenes with Anthony in the past.<\/p>\n

\n\tBADLAND: He came in the pub. The darts, and we were around. He came in more than that, but that was the main one. He was a beautiful man, and he will be much missed. He was charming and funny and generous, and we\u2019d have naughty little sort of asides. And I had wondered why we weren\u2019t \u2014 I assumed he would be in this last [season] and didn\u2019t know, as I think very few people knew, he was ill and just couldn\u2019t do it.<\/p>\n

\n\tSo we will miss him, and I respect him, and I think it\u2019s a great honor to be in the episode that is dedicated to him.<\/p>\n

\n\tDEADLINE: How did it feel embarking on this new chapter of the show after the previous three seasons with the men\u2019s team, and how much do you think it meant to Mae? Could you talk about that transition and leaving the show behind?<\/p>\n

\n\tBADLAND: Well, when we finished [Season 3], we didn\u2019t think there would be another. Jason had said, \u201cI\u2019ve got a three series arc, that\u2019ll be it.\u201d And then to go back and to take, it\u2019s very exciting because it\u2019s a risk, isn\u2019t it?<\/p>\n

\n\tA female team [is] quite quite different, and the men have come with it. The male audience have gone with it, like they do with the genuine footballers. And there\u2019s good stories, different stories in there, different tales to tell. So, I\u2019m absolutely thrilled that it seems, in England, certainly, to have taken off this year. People don\u2019t know what to do. They don\u2019t know whether to watch it episode by episode or to binge watch it. They can\u2019t wait to binge it. So that\u2019s thrilling, absolutely thrilling. I\u2019ve had a great time. I\u2019m privileged to have been part of it, and I\u2019ll just have to be in the stands, won\u2019t I? And see how they progress.<\/p>\n

\n\tOr there is a film called Wonderful Life, where an angel [comes down.]<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Annette<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tAnnette Badland in \u2018Ted Lasso\u2019 Season 4<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tApple TV<\/p>\n

\n\tDEADLINE: I could see them incorporating it. I love that movie. We watch it every Christmas. She would be such a great Clarence-esque character.<\/p>\n

\n\tBADLAND: Yeah, popping up in someone\u2019s conscience and tearing them off a strip or whatever. Or giving them information.<\/p>\n

\n\tDEADLINE: I feel like Beard may need some of that for some reason. Because we don\u2019t see his reaction, at the end of the episode. We see it\u2019s Rebecca\u2019s telling Ted, you don\u2019t see the words pass, but just from his actions, you know that she\u2019s died. But yeah, I guess curious to see what will happen with him. I love that idea. I hope you\u2019ve pitched that and that it comes to light in the future.<\/p>\n

\n\tBADLAND: As soon as he said she passed, I said, \u201cOh, can I come back as an angel?\u201d So we did talk about it.<\/p>\n

\n\tBut he doesn\u2019t do the predictable, does he? That\u2019s what\u2019s so delightful.<\/p>\n

\n\tDEADLINE: That\u2019s all I had, unless you wanted to add anything else about what fans come up to you and say when they recognize you from the show, or any last words before we go.<\/p>\n

\n\tBADLAND: Ah, encountering them is terrific, and I\u2019m very proud to have been in this because I still get messages from people saying, you know, things like \u201cMy mom\u2019s very ill with cancer. She comes home from her treatment. We all pile on the bed. We put Ted on. We believe. We laugh.\u201d So that\u2019s a just tremendous thing to have in the world, and to be connected to it, and feel you\u2019ve done that for folk. No bad thing, eh?<\/p>\n

\n\tRELATED: Apple TV Claims Largest Weekly Viewership Ever With \u2018Mayday\u2019, \u2018Ted Lasso\u2019 And Post-Emmys Bump For \u2018Widow\u2019s Bay\u2019 & \u2018Pluribus\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SPOILER ALERT: This post contains spoilers for Ted Lasso Season 4, Episode 9, titled \u201cMae Rides The Bus,\u201d…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":865754,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[5896,88,13022],"class_list":["post-865753","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-apple-tv","tag-entertainment","tag-ted-lasso"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/865753","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=865753"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/865753\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/865754"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=865753"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=865753"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=865753"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}