Spoilers for Season 3 of Ted Lasso ahead, if you aren’t caught up on the comedy, you can stream it with an Apple TV+ subscription.
Out of everyone in the Ted Lasso cast, the character that has gone through the greatest physical change is Nick Mohammed’s kit-man-turned-coach, Nate Shelley. As he went from black-haired, sweat-suit-wearing assistant to grey-haired, suit-wearing coach, it’s correlated with his arc from timid right-hand man to cocky coach. So, considering the massive role Nate's looks play in the show, CinemaBlend spoke to the Emmy-nominated actor about his character’s evolution, and why it might be extra important to pay attention to Nate’s suits as the season unfolds on the 2023 TV schedule.
While Nate’s most obvious physical change has been his hair, which we'll discuss later, his suits have played an equally important role. If you go back and watch Season 3 of Ted Lasso, you’ll notice that at the games the West Ham manager is always wearing a black suit. That formal fit, Mohammed explained, is the same suit he bought when he overstepped with Keeley in Season 2, which was a real signifier of the character’s downfall at Richmond. He also mentioned the grey suit Ted bought him in Season 1, elaborating on the significance of the two outfits in the show:
There's really a lovely thing – I mean, I can't really give too many things away – but even just thinking about the black suit that he wears at the Richmond game, which was obviously the suit that was chosen when he overstepped the mark with Keeley and kissed her. God knows where that grey suit is that Ted gave him. And I can't give too much away, but I remember saying to Jason ‘Are we ever gonna see that grey suit make an appearance?’ Knowing full well that if we see that grey suit, that's a good sign. But we have not seen it yet.
I think I get where he’s going with this. While we’ve only seen the black suit at this point, if Nate were to dust off that grey suit it would hopefully mean that the lovable kit man is still in there, and he’s finally realized what he did was wrong. Hopefully, if we see the reemergence of the grey suit it will mean Nate is on the path to redemption.
The other component of Nate’s wardrobe Mohammed mentioned was the turtlenecks, and how that impacts his performance and his character’s posture. He said:
I feel like Nate's posture changes depending on who he's talking to, and his attitude changes depending on who he's talking to. And often the costumes do enhance that a little bit. When he's in like the West Ham [costumes] he's sort of uptight, and its often when he's talking to Rupert and he has a real guard up and he's very careful about how he speaks. He can't really slump because there's sort of high neckline on the turtlenecks and things like that. So it's all incredibly well thought through and, you know, costume and makeup have done a phenomenal job.
Along with the significance of Nate’s suits, the evolution of his hair from black to grey has also played a role in showing the audience the change in the self-titled "Wonder Kid's" outlook on his career and life. The actor explained that making his character’s hair grey was a “deliberate” choice, saying:
I feel like you know, the choice of him going grey was a very deliberate choice and showing the sort of stress and the shame and the strain and I guess aging him a little bit. I mean, I've got flecks of grey, which were painted out for Season 1 to make him look younger and sort of more subordinate and more childlike I guess. And then we sort of slowly added more grey for Season 2 and then by Season 3 it's a full-on grey wig. I like to think that it's a bit of a cautionary tale as well, Nate’s one is sort of a careful what you wish for, and his grey hair is a constant reminder of what he did really. Like his act of betrayal is sort of living literally there with him in his head.
Overall, it’s been fascinating to track the evolution of Nathan Shelley’s looks, and how it correlates to his job, his mental state and others' perceptions of him. Over the last few episodes, there have been hints at Nate’s redemption, much like there have been clues that Roy could become the show’s lead, and it seems like his clothes will help us realize when he's finally ready to come to terms with what he did. I also think that after hearing Mohammed’s comments about his character’s looks, we’re going to need to pay close attention to his clothes and overall look, because if that grey suit pops up, it’ll likely be great news for all of us, but especially fantastic news for the Wonder Kid.
