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Ted Lasso team hoped to bring Anthony Head back for Season 4 finale

Ted Lasso co-creator Brendan Hunt told Deadline the show had an "outside hope" of featuring Anthony Head in the Season 4 finale, but was told it would not be possible. Head died on 1 June aged 72.

2 outlets · 0L · 2C · 0R First reported Account updated
Image: Deadline
Image: Digital Spy

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The story, neutrally told

Centre · 2Ted Lasso co-creator and star Brendan Hunt said the show had hoped to bring Anthony Head back for the Season 4 finale. Centre · 1Hunt said the team was told this would not be possible: "we had an idea for a little thing but it was not going to happen." Centre · 2Head, who played the villainous Rupert Mannion, died on 1 June aged 72 from complications of pneumonia; Deadline said his health issues before his death had not been made public.

Centre · 2The show referenced Rupert several times in Season 4 and paid tribute to Head with an "In Memoriam" card in Episode 409. Centre · 1Deadline reported that Head likely would have appeared in the finale's shareholders meeting showdown, which Hunt co-wrote with Jason Sudeikis; Rupert's Season 4 arc began with suspicion that he was secretly buying AFC Richmond shares, and the culprit turned out to be Zelda (Tracey Ullman). Centre · 2Annette Badland, who plays Mae, told Deadline she had assumed Head would be in the season and did not know he was ill, adding that very few people did; in Digital Spy's account she called being in the episode dedicated to him "a great honour".

Centre · 1Asked whether Rupert will die in Season 5, Hunt said he did not know, since Head died after filming finished, and the team would decide if and when they reconvene; Deadline noted the show has not yet been renewed, though a renewal is expected shortly.

Every sentence links to the reporting it rests on. The pill in front of each says where its sources sit: Left, Centre or Right when one side supplies at least half of them, Mixed when they are evenly split. The number is how many outlets it cites.

Left0 outlets

No left outlet in our sources has covered this story yet.

Centre2 outlets

Framing
Both outlets present a brief entertainment item built on Hunt's comments to Deadline, framed as a tribute to Head and a look at what might have been.
Emphasis
Hunt's 'outside hope' quote, the In Memoriam card, and Badland's remarks; Deadline adds plot detail on the finale, Digital Spy adds Badland's tribute.
Leaves out or plays down
Digital Spy omits the finale plot and the renewal status; Deadline omits Badland's tribute remarks.
For example
“But there could’ve been more, according to Ted Lasso co-creator, executive producer and star Brandan Hunt.” — Deadline
“Paying her own tribute to her late co-star, she said: "He was a beautiful man, and he will be much missed.” — Digital Spy

Right0 outlets

No right outlet in our sources has covered this story yet.