All the Jason Sudeikis & Olivia Wilde Drama Made Ted Lasso S3 Even Better
Though only in its third season, Ted Lasso is one of the most popular shows currently on American TV.
It tells the story of the titular hero, an American college football coach (Jason Sudeikis ), who gets a raw deal in life.
As a part of the show's premise he's recruited to coach a fictional English Premier League soccer team, the difference between American football and soccer making no difference at all for his employer, because she's actually setting him up to fail, and intends to ruin the team, because it was the only thing her unfaithful ex-husband cared about.
Furthermore, Ted is plagued by personal troubles – he only took a job so unsuitable for his skills, because his wife is clearly pushing him out of the family (by the end of Season 1 they've divorced).
But did you know that Ted's divorce storyline is clearly paralleled by Jason Sudeikis' real-life problems? Around 2020 Jason underwent a breakup with his partner of nine years, actress Olivia Wilde.
While they've pretended – and still pretend – that their parting was amicable, currently they are undergoing a legal battle for the custody of their two children.
As usual in such cases, it is difficult to assign the blame.
Secrets allegedly revealed by the couple's former nanny firmly point the accusing finger at Olivia, who, as the reveal goes, cheated on Jason, but the couple presented a united front to call these claims "false and scurrilous".
It might be the case of art taking direct inspiration from real-life.
Ted Lasso also tries to act as if his divorce did not dent his optimism, and present the façade of an amicable parting with his ex-wife, yet deep down he is clearly upset by the events, and becomes even more upset as, by the first episode of Season 3, she is clearly with another man, and their children start to notice that man's presence.
We can only hope that said inspiration would remain just that, an inspiration, without anyone using the series to actually project their actual issues onto the screen, to the detriment of the story's quality and initially intended messages.