Ted Lasso’s Brendan Hunt Discusses His Character Coach Beard and His Relationship With Jane Payne

Brendan Hunt plays as Coach Beard in Ted Lasso and has been a fan favorite since the show aired. Aside from being an actor on the show, Hunt is also among the creators of Ted Lasso which he developed together with Jason Sudeikis, Joe Kelly and Bill Lawrence. Now that the series is on its third season, Hunt shares some of his thoughts on his character Coach Beard.

As someone who’s been a part of the show since day 1, Hunt was also surprised at the turn of events in season three. The current storyline of the series is the product of all the input they’ve received. He told Collider,

“There’s plenty of unexpected stuff. We’ve been on course with our main stuff that we always pictured, but even all of that has adjusted a little bit, or become richer, and has been complemented by these parallel things that we never imagined. Those are all flowers of the seeds of contributions that we got from the writers that we picked up along the way and the cast members who made everything greater than the sum of its parts. It is still very much a group effort, of everyone who has joined us on this journey, while still being encased with the original hull of the spaceship.”

Brendan Hunt’s Character on Ted Lasso and His Relationship with Jane

Hunt’s character Coach Beard is a little unpredictable, he sometimes does things out of character. Hunt shares his thoughts on Coach Beard’s behavior, he explained,

“I think people know the most important things about him, which is that he’s a troubled, but essentially loving creature, that is a sponge of facts and knowledge, who’s said yes to a lot of things in life, and who most importantly is always there for those he loves most. Now, have we had a full inventory of all his experiences and travels, and the stamps on his passport, which in itself may have an alias? No, we have not. But at his core, we know the guy now.”

Hunt admits that the reason Coach Beard was never the head coach was because of his destructive nature, which can be seen through his relationship with Jane. He said,

“In a way, I think his relationship with Jane tells us why he’s not a head coach. He’s got some kind of hole in his soul that he’s just gotta fill, in the pursuit of passion, no matter how toxic or destructive that passion may actually be.”

New episodes of Ted Lasso are released on Apple TV+ every Wednesday.