Will Ted and Rebecca become a couple in ‘Ted Lasso’? These fans say they’re ‘soulmates’
For a certain group of fervent “Ted Lasso†fans, football romance is life.
These eagle-eyed fans have rewatched episodes more times than they can count, as if they’re studying game tape to memorize plays. They look for hidden messages in jewelry choices, outfit colors and interview quotes. They call themselves “rom-communists,†a reference to Ted’s belief that everything is going to work out in the end. And they are totally certain that Ted (Jason Sudeikis) and Rebecca (Hannah Waddingham) are endgame — that they are destined for each other.
“They are canonically soulmates,†said Corina Mitani, a Brazilian fan. “There are so many parallels between their separate stories and then so many things that link them together — it’s an absolute masterful narrative work from Jason and the writing team.â€
The Los Angeles Times spoke with several fans who want Ted and Rebecca to be in a relationship — and found a lot of commonalities among them. The women usually refer to the actors and writers by their first names — Jason said this, or when Hannah told us that — and bring up different interviews Sudeikis and Waddingham have given throughout the series. A quote by Sudeikis from 2020 is often used as proof that TedBecca, as fans have dubbed them, are destined to be together: “What if Nora Ephron wrote a sports film?†And don’t get TedBecca Nation started on the significance of Sept. 13, 1991 — it’s the date when Ted’s dad died by suicide and Rebecca learned that her dad was having an affair. Why make them experience childhood trauma on the same day if they weren’t going to bond about it in the series?
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Their search for Easter eggs and callbacks to previous episodes is similar to the dedication Swifties have for the details in Taylor Swift songs. And because the writers and actors have confirmed there is intentionality in the storylines, that has only infused more passion in fans’ hunt for clues or evidence that the characters lead parallel lives. Ted signed his divorce papers on Rebecca’s wedding anniversary, after all.
Some of the fans interviewed by The Times connected on WhatsApp after finding each other on Twitter. They created a group chat — spanning from Europe to the U.S. to Latin America — where they dissect cast interviews or analyze episodes together.
“When I talk to people in my real life, they’re like, ‘I don’t know what “Ted Lasso†is,’†U.K.-based Rebecca Doe said. Since Season 1, she’s been patiently waiting for Ted and Rebecca to get together, even after the great Bantr misdirect when it seemed like the duo were messaging each other on the dating app. Instead, it was the beginning of the AFC Richmond owner’s relationship with the player Sam Obisanya. “Jason Sudeikis, you need to serve jail time for this,†says Doe, laughing.
That wasn’t the first nor the last time TedBecca fans would get their hopes up only to be let down. In Episode 6 of Season 3, set in Amsterdam and titled “Sunflowers,†fans thought there was a chance Rebecca and Ted would finally connect, but she ended up having a brief romance with a stranger played by Matteo van der Grijn. Mimicking the eternal optimism of their mustachioed leader, the fans didn’t let this deter them. Instead, they said they found evidence that Van der Grijn’s character was actually just a Dutch version of Ted, meant to show Rebecca how nice it would be to be cared for by a doting, kind man.
Charlotte Williams, a fan who lives in Malta, points out that Rebecca exclaims “F— me,†when she tries the stranger’s tea, just as she did when she first bit into Lasso’s homemade biscuits. Plus, Rebecca notices he’s playing André Hazes’ Dutch rendition of the Kenny Rogers song “She Believes in Me.â€
“She’s had to have been listening to Ted’s music to know it in a different language,†Williams said.
The fashion in the series is also mined for clues. Fans are quick to point out when Rebecca wears “biscuit box pink,†which they see as an ode to Ted. In “Sunflowers,†after Rebecca falls into a canal, she borrows a pink floral sundress that her mystery man says belonged to his ex-wife. It’s unlike anything the character has previously worn. Fans have dubbed it the “Kansas sundress,†and they say they love this softer side of Rebecca, envisioning a future where she would join Ted in his hometown.
“I immediately thought she looked like a little prairie mama,†said Hannah Hensley, a fan from Illinois. “That and she clearly needs to be in Kansas.†Hensley, who credits the show with helping her work through mental health issues during the pandemic, echoes a sentiment others mentioned — Rebecca’s clothing is like armor in the first two seasons, very businesslike and tailored, and this style was considerably more casual. “She’s vulnerable and exposed and all glowy in the soft, warm light.â€
Hensley, a mother to three young children whose husband is in the military and travels often, said her perspective about Ted and Rebecca is different from other fans’. Ideally, Ted would return to Kansas with Rebecca, where his son Henry lives. It would also fulfill a psychic’s prediction from Episode 3 of this season that Rebecca will become a mother.
“Some people are like, ‘She’s a mother to the team,’†Hensley said. “But I think that’s a real disservice to someone who we see since Season 1 that that was a dream of hers, to have a child.â€
Although the running biscuit gag is hard for the actress to take, the love coming in from fans is more than worth it.
The subject of Rebecca and motherhood has been a source of division among “Ted Lasso†fans, with some feeling like it came out of nowhere, and that it was forcing a stereotypical outcome for a strong, powerful female character. And while in 2021 Waddingham said she’d always envisioned Rebecca wanting children as part of her backstory, the combination of motherhood coming up again via a psychic and the discourse about Rebecca ending up with Ted in Kansas seemed to paint her into a very gender-normative box.
But the TedBecca fans have a completely different take on the issue.
“I think people who were really shocked by it, I just don’t think they were watching the show properly,†said Doe.
Doe and other fans pointed out that in Season 1, Rebecca was devastated when her ex-husband Rupert told her that Bex, his new girlfriend, was pregnant, cruelly adding that it’s not that he didn’t want children, but that he just didn’t want any with Rebecca. She was equally crushed when she saw the baby.
Montse Soler, a fan in Spain who has a Twitter account dedicated to Rebecca’s wardrobe, said people who complain about the character’s interest in motherhood aren’t embracing how she can be both a boss and a mom.
“She doesn’t need it to validate herself, but it’s what she wants and deserves,†said Soler, in an interview conducted in Spanish. She added that she liked the possibility that “Ted Lasso†could show that there are lots of ways to become a mother, beyond getting pregnant.
Soler said she would like to see Rebecca end up with Ted and have her continue to be the boss of AFC Richmond. But what would she say to viewers who want them to stay friends? Soler said there are a lot of good examples of platonic relationships in the show already. “And what is sweeter than a romance based on friendship, not initially based on a physical or sexual attraction, but on a deep connection?â€
Episode 7, released on Wednesday, did not feature any scenes with Ted and Rebecca together, but rather than dismay, the fans The Times spoke with said they found comfort in the storyline. Ted describes a myth about soulmates being connected by an invisible red string. While the red string used in the episode had to do with the teammates being physically tied together, fans still saw a connection to Ted and Rebecca. They both wore red in the episode, and the subject of soulmates was broached. And, for those studying carefully, when Rebecca was talking to Keeley about being cared for, she played with a chunky ring on her left hand, one she started wearing in Amsterdam. Some fans said it looks like a lasso knot. Soler thinks this could be Rebecca’s red string of fate.
Fans aren’t wrong in declaring “Ted Lasso†a rom-com, it’s just we are yet to see if romance extends to the two leads. But there’s another governing principle of TedBecca Nation: Trust the writers.
In Season 2, Episode 5, Ted tells a dejected team, “Fairy tales do not start, not do they end, in the dark forest [...]. Now, it may not work out how you think it will or how you hope it does. But believe me, it will all work out exactly as it’s supposed to.â€
So there’s not much for these fans to do besides let go and believe … and analyze an Easter egg or two along the way.
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