Hannah Waddingham Reveals How She’s Really Feeling About Ted Lasso’s Surprise Return

Posted on 20/05/2025 by Boris Clair

Hannah Waddingham has opened up about the return of Ted Lasso.

The British actor won an Emmy for her performance as Rebecca Welton in the Apple TV+ sports comedy, and later made no secret of her disappointment when it looked as though it would not be returning for a fourth season.

Eventually, earlier this year, it was confirmed that new episodes of Ted Lasso were in the works after all, two years after it last aired.

Speaking on Tuesday’s edition of Capital Breakfast, the former Game Of Thrones star admitted she had complicated feelings about the prospect of Ted Lasso coming back, as she and her co-stars initially thought they’d “mourned the loss”.

“We were all a bit like, ‘Oh’,” Hannah admitted. “We thought we’d mourned the loss, and now it’s rising from the dead.”

Hannah Waddingham as Rebecca Welton in the most recent season of Ted Lasso

However, she added that the news was “amazing”, while letting slip that shooting is due to begin in July.

Putting the show’s continued popularity down to the writing, she enthused: “Our writers are literally Jedi Knights. They’re just incredible. And we’ve got, like, a full room of real feminist men. So, we’ve got all the fabulous women in there – but the men that are in there, I think you really see [that they are feminists[ in the scripts.

“You could easily have a show that was so male-dominated, because, you know, myself and Juno Temple are like the two main women in it. So, it could really be out of control – but you’d never feel that. It’s just so beautifully drawn.”

Ted Lasso star and creator Jason Sudeikis revealed in March that season four would centre around the titular character taking over a women’s football team.

Jason explained: “It’s daunting, because we told the story we wanted to tell. But there’s more there. And it is a neat group of people to work with, it’s a wonderful group of people, and characters to write around and for. It’s such a great group.”

Seasons one to three of Ted Lasso are now streaming on Apple TV+.

The Fall Guy Comes Under Fire Over Joke About Amber Heard And Johnny Depp

Posted on 04/05/2024 by Boris Clair

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Well, that didn’t land.

The Fall Guy is hitting cinemas this weekend, but some people who got to preview the film aren’t impressed with a joke that references Johnny Depp and Amber Heard’s relationship.

In the stunt actor-inspired action-comedy, Hannah Waddingham’s producer character walks into a messy trailer, where she tells Emily Blunt, playing a director: “It’s like Amber and Johnny were just in here.”

The scene didn’t sit right with many people online, who thought the “distasteful” and “cheap” line made light of domestic violence.

Others posted that they had been excited to see the movie before hearing about the off-colour joke.

Johnny Depp and Amber Heard attend the 2016 Grammy Awards. A joke about their rocky relationship is at the center of a minor controversy.

Heard and Depp married in 2015 but split just 15 months later.

Details about the pair’s tumultuous relationship would become public years later, when Depp sued Heard for defamation after she called herself a “a public figure representing domestic abuse” in a 2018 op-ed for the Washington Post.

An intense court battle ensued, in which both actors accused each other of abuse. In the end, a jury ruled in Depp’s favour and ordered Heard to pay him millions in damages.

HuffPost has reached out to the distributor of The Fall Guy, Universal Pictures, for comment.

See some reactions here:

the fall guy: was just kind of cringe and smug until the weird j*hnny and a*ber joke, then it was unpleasant

— hannah strong (@thethirdhan) April 22, 2024

I know it’s a brief a throwaway line, but still not sure what was up with the domestic violence joke in The Fall Guy.

— Michael (@JokerCritic) April 25, 2024

“the fall guy” made a distasteful “joke” about the domestic abuse amber suffered at the hands of johnny. it’s 2024, why are we writing these kinds of lines into movies? nasty work https://t.co/n1eCsM2o38

— lily (@lavfeysun) April 23, 2024

everyone should be aware that the new “comedy” movie The Fall Guy (which is getting a wide theatrical release in a few weeks) allegedly makes a cheap Amber / J*hnny joke. would love to ask the writer what he thinks is so funny about domestic violence…

— shane russo (@shxnerusso) April 22, 2024

The Fall Guy isn’t out till next Friday – maybe before then Leitch and company can read the room, make a last-minute edit, and replace that one unfortunate joke with… I dunno, even a second or two of dead silence would be an improvement.

— Josh Gilbert, Occasional Artist (@ShokXoneStudios) April 24, 2024

Hearing about the Amber Heard joke in The Fall Guy has just completely obliterated any interest I had in seeing it, even for Gosling in another comedic role

— Björk’s Tulpa ☭ (@Bjorksbxtch) April 24, 2024

I don’t really get Johnny Depp stands who defend the Fall Guy joke. If you believe him, don’t you think it’s kinda shitty to joke about a domestic abuse situation like that? I think it speaks to the type of people they are

— row (@spaceageranger) April 25, 2024

Hannah Waddingham And Jason Sudeikis Reunite For Shallow Duet And We’re So Off The Deep End

Posted on 14/11/2023 by Boris Clair

On Saturday night, the Emmy-winning British star was among the guests at Jason’s annual Thundergong! charity function in his Missouri hometown, and joined him on stage to cover Lady Gaga’s chart-topping mega hit A Star Is Born.

Jason initially made out he was going to perform the duet with his former Saturday Night Live co-star Will Forte – before Hannah made her surprise appearance to perform Gaga’s parts of the Oscar-winning song.

And the results? Well, just watch for yourself.

Jason and Hannah both appeared in all three seasons of Ted Lasso, the last of which came to an end in May.

While there’s seemingly no plan for a follow-up, Hannah has made no secret of her hopes for a fourth series to happen in the future, previously revealing she was finding it hard to say goodbye to her character, Rebecca Welton, the owner of the fictional team AFC Richmond.

“Rebecca Welton doesn’t exist unless I’m playing her,” she admitted. “And that’s the hardest thing I’m dealing with at the moment. That I’ve lost a pal.”

As the festive season approaches, we should probably all be prepared to see a lot more of the former Eurovision host on our screens in the coming weeks.

Hannah Waddingham ‘Respectfully Steps Down’ As Host Of BBC Proms Event

Posted on 29/08/2023 by Boris Clair

Hannah Waddingham has told fans she pulled out of hosting a BBC Proms event this week out of solidarity with the ongoing actors’ strike.

On Friday, the BBC announced that the Ted Lasso star would be fronting the Fantasy, Myths and Legends Prom at the Royal Albert Hall, which was recorded on Monday evening.

However, shortly before the event was due to get underway, Hannah revealed she would no longer be taking part, as a show of “support” with her colleagues in the entertainment industry who are currently on strike.

“Hey guys, I very sadly won’t be able to host tonight’s [BBC Proms] Fantasy, Myths and Legends,” she wrote on X (formerly known as Twitter).

“It will be a magical night, but due to my ongoing support for the [SAG-AFTRA] strike I must respectfully step down. I look forward to being back at [the Royal Albert Hall]!”

Hey guys, I very sadly won’t be able to host tonight’s @bbcproms “Fantasy,Myths and Legends”. It will be an magical night,but due to my ongoing support for the @sagaftra strike I must respectfully step down. I look forward to being back at @RoyalAlbertHall PDQ! Xx H

— Hannah Waddingham. (@hanwaddingham) August 28, 2023

Members of the Screen Actors’ Guild have been on strike for over a month now, with the union taking action shortly after it was announced that the Writers’ Guild of America was also on strike.

This marks the first time in over 60 years that both unions have been on strike at the same time.

Among the key concerns behind the ongoing actors’ strike include streaming residuals, minimum pay and the “use and potential abuse” of artificial intelligence within the film and TV industries, per the Los Angeles Times.

Due to the strikes, a number of major films and TV shows have now shut down production, with some studios now pushing back release dates for key projects that have already completed filming while its cast are striking.

13 Things You Didn’t Know About Hannah Waddingham, From Showbiz Pals To Weird And Wonderful Roles

Posted on 05/08/2023 by Boris Clair

From her early days on the West End stage to her Emmy-winning stint as Ted Lasso’s Rebecca to a show-stopping turn as the co-host of this year’s Eurovision ceremony, Hannah Waddingham just keeps going from strength to strength.

With a CV that includes everything from hit musicals to a brief but unforgettable role in HBO’s Game Of Thrones and even a season of ITV’s Benidorm, the multi-talented (and multilingual) Hannah surely has one of the most fascinating CVs in entertainment right now.

We’ve taken a look back at her career – and her life off-screen – to bring you some unexpected facts about the star…

1. She got her start in dinner theatre

One of Hannah’s first roles came at the dinner show Joni And Gina’s Wedding, where audience members are invited to interact with the cast.

Before the audition (for a role described as an “overgrown Barbie doll”), she had been toying with the idea of quitting performing, she later told Esquire. “I was like, ‘if I don’t get this, I think I should just give up,’” she said. She decided to enter the tryout doing an American accent “from the minute I walked in the door” – and was offered the job “on the spot”.

The role was a gamechanger for Hannah, who ended up landing West End roles in shows like Spamalot and Kiss Me Kate afterwards.

2. Hannah kept the Game Of Thrones ‘shame bell’ as a goodbye gift

When Hannah played nun Septa Unella in HBO’s fantasy series, one of her most memorable scenes saw her accompanying a naked Cersei Lannister (played by Lena Headey) through the streets of King’s Landing, clanging a bell and shouting “shame”.

When her time on the show was over, the Game of Thrones team gave her that prop as a keepsake.

“It’s common knowledge that if a show gives you a hero prop, it means your character is truly, really dead,” she told InStyle.”So when [producers] David Benioff and Dan Weiss made a ceremony, and handed it to me on my final scene, I was a little disappointed!”

3. Ted Lasso isn’t Hannah’s first football-related role

Long before Ted Lasso, Hannah had a brief role in Footballers’ Wives, the legendary ITV drama which chronicled the wild exploits at the fictional football club Earls Park, back in 2005. Appearing in just one episode, she played a tennis pro called Jools, the latest love interest for club boss Hazel Bailey.

“I’m going to go out there and say that [Ted Lasso] is 150,000% better,” Hannah said in an interview with AV Club – but we reckon that it’s possible to embrace the merits of both shows. After all, did Ted Lasso have a scene where a WAG’s fake boobs caught fire? Or a Sleeping Beauty-themed wedding, with noted Christmas song Walking In The Air as a musical accompaniment? Thought not.

4. She released a single back in 2000

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At the start of the millennium, Hannah starred in Andrew Lloyd Webber and Ben Elton’s West End musical The Beautiful Game, which is set during the Troubles in Belfast in the late 60s, and centres around a group of teenagers in a local football team. She played Christine, the girlfriend of the team’s only Protestant member, Del, and performed the track Our Kind Of Love, which she later released as a single (under the mononym ‘Hannah’).

It eventually reached number 41 in the UK charts – and Lloyd Webber would later recycle the same tune for the song Love Never Dies in the sequel to Phantom Of The Opera.

5. She has a four octave vocal range

Though she has never had formal singing lessons, Hannah’s vocal range is staggering (for comparison, the standard woman’s range spans between two and three octaves).

6. She credits her musical theatre work ethic as the secret to her success

Hannah as Lilli in a production of Kiss Me Kate performed at The Old Vic Theatre in 2012

Although her screen roles may have caused her profile to skyrocket, Hannah maintains that “musical theatre has changed my life the most”, thanks to the sheer discipline required to sing, dance and act to a packed auditorium every night.

“The physical dedication I’ve had to build doing musicals – I couldn’t do Ted Lasso or Hocus Pocus [2] without it,” she told InStyle. “Mentally and physically, the stamina and agility you need to keep up with [Jason] Sudeikis and his SNL style of, you know, giving you things in 12 seconds while there’s a camera in your face?… I’ve had to keep my mind and body really strong, and in ‘musical theatre shape’, because it’s so much a tool of my craft.”

7. She’s played the Devil… in a Rod Stewart jukebox musical

Hannah with Rod Stewart on the opening night of Tonight's The Night in 2003 — Hannah with Rod Stewart on the opening night of Tonight’s The Night in 2003

Hannah’s CV is nothing but varied. In 2003, she played Satan in the stage musical Tonight’s The Night, belting out various Rod Stewart hits while wearing a black PVC catsuit and a belt embellished with the word ‘Wicked’.

The bizarre plot saw a shy young man make a pact with the devil, giving him the courage to ask out his crush… in exchange for eternal damnation.

8. She’s pals with Michael Bublé

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