Over three years since the season three finale, Ted Lasso is back! In the fourth season premiere, his old colleagues Rebecca (Hannah Waddingham), bisexual baddie Keeley (Juno Temple), and Higgins (Jeremy Swift) come to him with a job offer: coaching their new women’s football team. And as we well know, with women’s soccer comes lesbians, and though we don’t know all the details yet, we know at the very least there will be a lot more queer representation in the coming season than there was in the past few.

What we do know comes mostly from Coach Jackie on TikTok, who was on the red carpet asking the important question to the actors of this season: “Are you playing a lesbian?” Some people were coy about it, but at least two actors already admitted their characters are lesbians, and one actor said she is sadly not playing a lesbian BUT introduced Coach Jackie to her wife, who says she looks like Sue Bird. Also in the cast is nonbinary actor Faye Marsay and Tanya Reynolds, who has played queer before in Sex Education.

Two things people learn quickly upon getting to know me is that men and sports are two of the things I care least about in the world. So it surprised myself as much as anyone else how much I loved the first three seasons of this show. Ted Lasso and his boys kicked their way into my heart one ripped up piece of a BELIEVE sign at a time. I love that it tackled topics like toxic masculinity and homophobia with a lot of honesty and heart. That said, I am REALLY looking forward to a women-dominated season, where I have no doubt they’ll cover topics like sexism and the disparity between men and women’s sports, tucked into its natural charm and humor.

Bonus: It seems the new cast enjoyed their time on set. Tanya Reynolds said, “It’s been a joy to go to work every day, because everyone is so nice.” Adding in my favorite lore drop: “There are no dickheads.”

The first episode of Ted Lasso is available on Apple TV now, with new episodes dropping every Wednesday.


Extra Time News

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+ Nonbinary star of gay reality show I Kissed a Girl, Pippa Palmer, has started a new LGBTQ+ app called Queer Connected that will help people find local events and groups and such, inspired by their own difficulty making queer friends when they were coming out

+ Lucy Dacus performed Bullseye with Julien Baker at the Outside Lands festival this weekend, calling her out by saying she wanted to bring her “best friend” to the stage

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+ Whitney Houston is getting her own Barbie, dressed in her classic “I Wanna Dance With Somebody” outfit

+ Bicon Aubrey Plaza had her baby!

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+ Ariana Grande’s album, Petal, reached #1 on the Billboard music charts

+ So far it seems like Ryan Murphy’s The Shards is mostly boy-gay (shocker) but it also stars noted bisexual Evan Rachel Wood so time will tell on that front

+ I absolutely loved the new show Sterling Point and all its gay summer camp vibes and think you should check it out