Where, oh where, was Coach Beard? That was the question on every Ted Lasso fan’s mind as season 4 kicked off. Ted was back at AFC Richmond, but his loyal right-hand man was nowhere in sight. Fear not—Beard is still very much part of the story. He just didn’t make it to the debut episode.
Brendan Hunt, the actor who plays Coach Beard, explains in a recent interview with Esquire that Beard remained overseas working alongside men’s head coach Roy Kent. But something is clearly wrong. When we finally see Beard again in episode 2, he’s gone a little feral. His hair has grown wild, and he has a haunted look in his eyes. “It’s immediately clear that he is perhaps not his best self,” Hunt says. “It’s just not necessarily clear if that’s his natural state of degradation when he is not in Ted’s company or if there’s something going on at home.”
The last time viewers saw Beard was in the season 3 finale, when he faked a ruptured appendix to stay in the U.K. and marry his fiery girlfriend, Jane, at an ancient druidic site. Hunt is quick to clarify, with a wink: “Uh … to the lawyers who own the Stonehenge IP, what my client means to say is ‘It had a stone construct that recalls Stonehenge in many ways.'” Apparently, Stonehenge itself is off-limits for fictional weddings due to copyright concerns. The actress playing Jane also sported a noticeable belly bump in that wedding scene. “What’s going on there?” Hunt teases. “That is one of the mysteries that this season seems to be drawing out.”
Beard has always been a character shrouded in mystery, and Hunt acknowledges the power of that. “Negative space is a really great way to put it,” he says. The writers room has long imagined Beard having a wilder, broader life just out of frame. “We always felt like there’s weird stuff going on with him, but we never actually present any of it.” Until now, perhaps. Hunt compares Beard to Toto from The Wizard of Oz—”I’m just a dog. I’m very loyal”—and also to Snoopy, who leads an incredibly eventful life while Charlie Brown is oblivious. “They’re looking for the Great Pumpkin while Snoopy is graduating from Harvard Law,” Hunt laughs.
As for what fans should expect this season, Hunt hints that Beard’s journey is tied to the show’s overarching themes. “We’re still in the realm of mental health, and we’re still talking about ‘What is home?'” he says. The Wizard of Oz parallels run deep, and Beard’s own search for contentment is far from over. “I wish I knew if he would find full contentment before he dies,” Hunt admits. “He’s still surrendering to the demons every now and again. He’s still having his struggles and trying to get through stuff. So, golly, where would he be without Ted? He’s still trying to work that out.”
