Ted Lasso has blessed audiences with more of Trent Crimm (James Lance) in its third season. The reporter has kissed his days as a reporter for the Independent goodbye—but that doesn’t mean he’s done covering football (soccer, for American folks) for good.
Trent has been invited into the Richmond AFC locker room by none other than Ted Lasso (Jason Sudeikis), who greenlights the reporter’s idea for a book about the team at the beginning of Season 3. In every shot, Trent lurks in the background, jotting down notes about the Greyhounds’ day-to-day activities.
While speaking with The Daily Beast’s Obsessed at an Apple FYC Red Carpet event, Lance raved about the decision to bring Trent into the foreground of the Ted Lasso story. His favorite part, though, doesn’t even involve his arc this season. Lance says he simply enjoys getting to be around the team more often.
“Everyone’s really funny,” Lance says, simply, letting out a chuckle as he glances around at his fellow cast members at the event. Somewhere nearby, Coach Beard (Brendan Hunt) is cracking a joke that echoes through the room. A few footballers hug. Lance is lucky enough to be around that almost every day on set, a privilege he didn’t have when he was simply a reporter from the Independent.
Plus, his increased presence meant that Ted Lasso could shine a light on Trent’s backstory. In the episode where the team journeys off to Amsterdam, “Sunflowers,” Trent comes out as gay to a closeted member on the team, Colin (Billy Harris).
“It’s been really fun bringing the backstory forward,” Lance says. “It was also kind of gorgeous, the way he becomes a bit of a mentor for young Colin. I loved that episode in Amsterdam, it was really cool to do.”
Hunt, who also serves as a co-creator and executive producer on Ted Lasso, also shared why it was important to shine a light on Trent’s character this season.
“We like all of these characters, and we have backstories for all of them. They just don’t all necessarily come out unless it's organic to the story,” Hunt said. “That was clearly a moment where he was starting to cast himself in a mentorship role with Colin. It’s been the Lasso way, too: One of the best ways to lead, if you will, is to open up about yourself and be vulnerable and truthful.”
Fans have relished in seeing one of their favorite supporting characters on screen more often, and seeing as this third season could be the final installment of Ted Lasso, perhaps a Trent Crimm spinoff is in order. Lance has an idea: one small tweet has been a giant leap for Trent-kind.
“William Shatner, before he flew up into space, he said the only journalist he’d speak to was Trent Crimm. He tweeted that, and I know this because someone sent it to me,” Lance said. “He didn’t make good on it. We’re missing an opportunity there.”
So, what would happen on the show? “He should get Trent Crimm to do an interview with him where he tells us about going up into space, but there’s one caveat: Trent insists that he does it in a shuttle going up to space,” Lance said. “When they get there, things go wrong.”
And if we’re going to have a spinoff all about Trent Crimm, he’s going to need a love interest. Lance already has a star in mind: Andrew Lincoln, who played Rick Grimes on The Walking Dead.
“Let’s get him in!” Lance demanded. What Trent Crimm says, goes—Shatner and Lincoln, we’ll need you on set in a month, tops.
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