Yahoo Autos Phil Dunster Reflects on ‘Ted Lasso’
Phil Dunster doesn’t have children, but seeing “Ted Lasso” off into its third season sort of feels like watching an eldest child leave the nest.
“You love them so dearly and you’re like, ‘I’m excited for you to go out to the world and for me to go out into the world and I can watch you with pride, but also I’m going to retire, or I’m going to move and do some fun things now as well,’” the 30-year-old actor says.
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Dunster is known for his portrayal of bad boy soccer star Jamie Tartt on the hit Apple+ show, which airs its second episode of Season Three Wednesday night. Saying goodbye to “Ted Lasso” is sad, sure, but also a rewarding experience for the actor.
“As much as everything has changed around it, there’s a kind of integrity and a through-line that I think reads in Season Three,” Dunster says. “It’s a really satisfying through-line that their character arcs are all seen through to their logical end.”
“Ted Lasso” debuted in the summer of 2020, deep in the pandemic, and took off rather immediately as a feel-good must-watch.
“To be honest, when we all first started, I don’t think that we had a specific projection that was given to us about where our characters were going,” Dunster says. “And I think that’s one of the magic things about acting on the show is that nobody knows where they’re going. Nobody knows what’s going to happen tomorrow. I think that it means that we are all playing what’s in front of us. And I think for my experience with Jamie, it’s meant that I don’t need to try to preempt things. I can just be playing what’s in front of me.”
What’s in front of him — slash Jamie — is often a life lesson that takes him by surprise, opening him up and turning him into a softer person.
