Ted Lasso Season 4 First Reviews: A Welcome Return with Plenty of Heart
Critics say the comedy's fourth season is a comforting dose of wholesome fun that should continue to delight fans, even if it doesn't feel particularly necessary.
Three years after seeming to come to an end, Ted Lasso is back with a fourth season on Apple TV, and the first reviews are now online and fairly mixed. This time Jason Sudeikis’s title character is wooed back to England to coach a women’s team, and he’s reunited with most of the regulars from the first three seasons. While fans are sure to enjoy seeing them all again, and they’re joined by a new favorite member of the ensemble, the initial reviews of Ted Lasso Season 4 show somewhat muted excitement for the return, calling it more comforting than fresh or even necessary.
Here’s what critics are saying about Ted Lasso Season 4:
89%
Is the show still as great as ever?
It’s another winning season.
— Jack Seale, Radio Times
It carries the same Ted Lasso charm viewers have grown to love.
— Kara Hedash, Screen Rant
Ted Lasso is back to being the wholesome, feel-good comedy it started as, only this time with a women-led storyline that should resonate with many viewers.
— Katie Doll, CBR
Though it’s not quite as glimmering or inspirational as it once was, this new Ted Lasso is still a delight.
— Abe Friedtanzer, Awards Buzz
Ted Lasso is still saccharine business as usual and, no doubt, still a lot of people’s cup of tea.
— Rachel Aroesti, Guardian
The new Ted Lasso is totally fine. It’s not great or terrible; it’s just fine.
— Michael Walsh, Nerdist
[The] series remains a cornball affair whose every attempt at wit is more groan-worthy than the last.
— Nick Schager, The Daily Beast
The return, after three years, feels a bit flat.
— Nick Hilton, Independent
How does it compare to previous seasons?
Ted Lasso returns to its former glory.
— Katie Doll, CBR
When it finds its footing, it’s the best Ted Lasso has been since Season 1.
— Lauren Sarner, New York Post
If the first three seasons of Ted Lasso are effectively one (overlong, especially toward the end) sports movie, then Season 4 is its perfectly routine sequel.
— Alison Herman, Variety
The stakes don’t feel as high.
— Jeanine T. Abraham, VisAbleBlackwoman
Being an improvement over the last two seasons is the very definition of damning with faint praise… It’s not a return to form, but it’s clearly also trying to fix many of the problems that sank it before.
— Michael Walsh, Nerdist
The fourth season… continues to suffer from the same tonal imbalances that felled the former final season.
— Ben Travers, IndieWire
Does it feel necessary?
Ted Lasso is returning at the right time, when we need optimism, and we crave authenticity.
— John Odette, Cinefied
Does there need to be more Ted Lasso in the world? Maybe not, but… having him around is never a bad thing.
— Abe Friedtanzer, Awards Buzz
There’s no reason for the show to be back… But Season 4 is mostly what I just said: time to have fun with your friends again. And isn’t that okay?
— Alexander Zalben, Comic Book Club
There are many reasons why Ted Lasso is making a comeback. Among the most crucial is the chance to celebrate and champion women’s sports, while raising awareness of misogyny and gender gaps that athletes face in the real world.
— Nicole Gallucci, Decider
There’s plenty more work to do to make the show feel more essential rather than simply comforting.
— Tania Hussain, Collider
Ted Lasso Season 4 doesn’t… earn its return, even beyond the questionable rationale by which Ted returns to Richmond.
— Ben Travers, IndieWire
Will fans find more of what they love about the show?
Ted Lasso… manages to move forward without losing what made it special.
— Tania Hussain, Collider
It’s familiar enough that for audiences who found the show cozy when it came out during the COVID-19 pandemic, they’ll find the new episodes to be a return to form.
— Lauren Sarner, New York Post
The show’s humor and heart are intact. Jokes still hit, tears still stream, and I can’t overstate the immense comfort of watching these Emmy-winning stars reprise career-defining roles.
— Nicole Gallucci, Decider
By the end of [Episode 4], there will have been enough sweet, celebratory moments to have rewarded your investment. (I gauge this scientifically by how often I choke up.)
— Robert Lloyd, Los Angeles Times
The show often falls back on comfortingly familiar dynamics: the will-they-won’t-they between Roy Kent, still manager of the men’s team, and his ex Keeley among them.
— Rachel Aroesti, Guardian
The Keeley and Roy relationship subplot should be seen as a given at this point of the show. In fact, it’s even more entertaining to see them interact as they continue to navigate what their future holds.
— Kara Hedash, Screen Rant
Keeley and Rebecca’s fashion remains impeccable.
— Fred Topel, United Press International
How is the new direction of the plot?
The refreshing story makes it a relief that the creative team continued beyond the third season.
— Katie Doll, CBR
One of the best, most admirable decisions that Ted Lasso‘s writing team makes with Season 4 is recognizing that bringing Ted back to AFC Richmond just isn’t enough.
— Tania Hussain, Collider
The shift in focus to women’s football does at least mean entertaining some hard truths.
— Rachel Aroesti, Guardian
Centering on AFC Richmond’s new team also gives Ted Lasso the chance to lean into areas of the sport that the first three seasons never explored, all while showing that change can be good for the series.
— Kara Hedash, Screen Rant
The Lady Greyhounds do give the show a much-needed new energy. They have much different problems than the (invisible) men’s team.
— Michael Walsh, Nerdist
Feminist commentary was never the series’ strong suit, and centering the women’s team prompts more of it than ever.
— Alison Herman, Variety
The Ted Lasso finale set up the possibility of a women’s soccer club emerging at Richmond. But the Ted Lasso Season 4 premiere does too little to justify why Ted would be the one to lead it.
— Ben Travers, IndieWire
There’s no real story in this season of Ted Lasso; it’s merely a rehash of prior iterations.
— Nick Schager, The Daily Beast
What should they have left alone?
I loved Rebecca’s journey in the first three seasons of Ted Lasso and would have been fine to have that story finished then.
— Jeanine T. Abraham, VisAbleBlackwoman
I loved the show, but its absence has not been a painful one.
— Robert Lloyd, Los Angeles Times
Is there anything this season does especially well?
Season 4’s strongest writing comes from recognizing that “belief” isn’t always enough.
— Tania Hussain, Collider
At its best, Ted Lasso is cathartic comedy at its finest. It’s a sharp, soothing, silver-lining seeker that holds a mirror up to viewers, challenges us to be better, and serves as a relentless reminder of goodness in the world.
— Nicole Gallucci, Decider
[Keeley and Rebecca’s] friendship is what every woman needs, and it feels more important than ever given the themes of this season.
— Katie Doll, CBR
What does work is largely derivative of earlier, superior seasons.
— Ben Travers, IndieWire
How are the familiar faces in the cast?
Bringing [Ted] back to basics may not be satisfying on a dramatic level, but it is on a comedic one… Goldstein, a gifted comedic performer, suffers the most here… It’s odd that Roy is included at all, other than the whole world loving Goldstein.
— Alexander Zalben, Comic Book Club
Seeing [Juno Temple] flex her more dramatic acting skills to show more of who Keeley is turns out to be the best gift of this new season.
— Abe Friedtanzer, Awards Buzz
Brendan Hunt… takes Coach Beard to new creative heights.
— Katie Doll, CBR
Figures like Roy and Ted’s longtime deputy Beard would be better deployed as occasional cameos, yet they remain load-bearing — and space-occupying — protagonists.
— Alison Herman, Variety
Goldstein’s presence as Roy might feel sparse throughout the first four episodes, but he remains one of Ted Lasso‘s funniest secret weapons.
— Tania Hussain, Collider
Are there any highlights among the newcomers?
The strongest new addition to the cast [is] Tanya Reynolds as Alice Chilton… Her blunt commentary is a nice counterpoint to Ted’s endless positivity.
— Abe Friedtanzer, Awards Buzz
Reynolds, who’ll certainly emerge as the season’s star, makes a big impression by holding things in, acting almost entirely with her eyes.
— Robert Lloyd, Los Angeles Times
It’s Reynolds who is an early standout… She builds [her character] with conviction and vulnerability so that their clashing coaching styles feel more earned than manufactured.
— Tania Hussain, Collider
[Reymolds] is a standout MVP, brilliantly embodying a socially awkward, strong-willed woman who struggles to keep her guard up as Ted tries to win her over with cheesy jokes and earnest charm.
— Nicole Gallucci, Decider
Alice Chilton is a blatant remodeling of Roy Kent, but Tanya Reynolds’ performance is equal turns wounded and witty.
— Ben Travers, IndieWire
[Alice is] pretty much the only new character who feels fully established, because Ted Lasso refuses to make room in the ensemble by sidelining (or is it touchlining?) old ones.
— Alison Herman, Variety
The other great new addition is, no surprise, Tracey Ullman. She’s a whirlwind of barely controlled chaotic energy.
— Michael Walsh, Nerdist
This new team will take time for the audience to adjust to, but from the first five episodes, I did not feel connected to any of the new characters.
— Jeanine T. Abraham, VisAbleBlackwoman
Do any of the new episodes stand out?
The standout Episode 2 shows how heavily a women’s team can benefit from the Richmond Way and why this iteration of the series is so meaningful.
— Nicole Gallucci, Decider
The second episode is legitimately good. It even made me laugh, something I had started to think Ted Lasso could no longer do.
— Michael Walsh, Nerdist
The most interesting episode of the first five episodes is Episode 5, which leaves you with a different connection to the team.
— Jeanine T. Abraham, VisAbleBlackwoman
The first episode is awful.
— Ben Travers, IndieWire
Does this season have any major problems?
Unlike the men’s team, the dark-skinned Black women are not featured characters (at least in the first five episodes), and that’s problematic.
— Jeanine T. Abraham, VisAbleBlackwoman
Some Lady Greyhounds are defined more by their struggles than their personalities.
— Tania Hussain, Collider
Episodes are painfully long (none are shorter than 44 minutes). There’s not enough conflict to drive the narrative, and not enough laughs to liven up the dead spots.
— Ben Travers, IndieWire
The jokes that are inserted rely on years-old stereotypes, featuring ‘battle of the sexes’ humor that feels mired in the 1970s.
— Peter Martin, Screen Anarchy
The footballing action is laughably lame. Given the main through line is about the battle to have women’s soccer taken seriously, you’d think they might have made a little more effort to show it at its best.
— Karl Quinn, Sydney Morning Herald
Ted Lasso: Season 4 premieres on Apple TV on August 5, 2026.
