Jason Sudeikis’ staggering ‘Ted Lasso’ paychecks revealed

Jason Sudeikis was earning $1 million an episode for Season 3 of “Ted Lasso.” But even with that hefty payday, he initially turned down returning for Season 4. 

“That wasn’t a negotiation tactic,” Sudeikis, 50, told the Hollywood Reporter in an interview published Tuesday. 

The former “SNL” star, who is the star and creator of “Ted Lasso,” explained that at the end of Season 3, he felt like, “The story was told. Ted went home to be with his son. I wasn’t going to have Ted uproot their life to justify the money truck. It made no sense to me.”

The hit Apple TV comedy, which premiered in 2020, follows a folksy American football coach, Ted Lasso (Sudeikis), as he moves to England and coaches an underdog football team to success. 

It’s been a cultural phenomenon, and a starmaker for Brett Goldstein, Hannah Waddingham, Juno Temple and Phil Dunster.

The show also helped put the streamer on the map to become the Emmy and Golden Globe juggernaut it is today (fellow Apple show “Widow’s Bay” was recently showered with 19 nominations in its freshman season; “The Studio” and “Pluribus” enjoyed similar awards love, too). 

Season 3 ended in 2023, with Ted leaving England and returning home to Kansas City, Missouri, to be a more hands-on parent to his young son.  

Sudeikis said he changed his mind about ending the show at Season 3 because, “It is infectious to play a character who sees the best in people and isn’t mad at the world for all its foibles and bullies and shadows.”

He quipped that he’s not a method actor like Daniel Day-Lewis, but, “it was good to live in that — to have that coursing through your brain and your body all day. It still is.”

Per THR, the cast and creators were interested in returning, and Sudeikis was “the only hold out,” in part because of his public split from Olivia Wilde, with whom he shares son Otis, 12, and daughter Daisy, 9. 

The former couple were together from 2011 to 2020, and settled their bitter custody battle in September 2023, with Sudeikis reportedly paying his ex $27,500 in child support per month.

Amid his personal life upheaval, the cast didn’t want to press him for information about a potential Season 4, according to THR. 

Waddingham recalled that cast members would, “Just reach out to each other, and go, ‘Have you heard?’ ‘Have you heard?’ ‘Have you heard?’”

Season 4 is a shift for the show, as Ted will return to coach a women’s team.

Cast members such as Temple, Goldstein and Waddingham will reprise their roles, but Dunster, who played the cocky player Jamie Tartt, will no longer be a series regular. 

Dunster also reportedly had scheduling conflicts with HBO’s “Rooster,” which he starred in with Steve Carell. 

In a March interview with People, Dunster was evasive about whether he knew much about Season 4, or will return. The actor coyly said, “maybe.”

He added that he has “met a fair few” of the new cast members, “And, man, I just think it’s going to be brilliant. I really do. And it’s got plenty of the stuff that people love about the show and will come back wanting.” 

Brendan Hunt, who plays Coach Beard and also co-created the show, told Entertainment Weekly that he’s “not against” another three-season arc for this new stretch of the story. 

Sudeikis told THR, “I know I needed this. I needed it as much as other people do.” 

“Ted Lasso” Season 4 premieres Aug. 5 on Apple TV.