While Ted Lasso's final season upset some fans, the series did manage to tie up most of the loose ends. Ted found himself back in the United States, coaching his son’s soccer team, and the AFC Richmond team was stronger than ever. Also, Rebecca Welton found herself presented with a new business venture while also potentially being reuniting with her missed love connection, the Dutchman. While some viewers saw the ending -- specifically Rebecca’s -- as a happily ever after one, Hannah Waddingham weighed in with some thoughts on her characters fate that I can’t help but agree with.
Rebecca’s love life has always been a hot-button issue when it comes to fans of one of the best Apple TV+ shows. Many believed that she would end up with Ted by the end of the series (a plot point that was intentionally teased according to a director). Additionally, some rooted for her romance with Sam, while others wanted to see her connect more with the mysterious Dutchman. As outspoken as the fans are, there is one person who has even louder opinions about what Rebecca should and shouldn’t do and that’s Hannah Waddingam — the woman responsible for bringing our favorite AFC Richmond team owner to life.
The Emmy winner recently sat down with People magazine where she opened up about what she thinks Rebecca is up to. Despite romance playing a huge role in her character’s life in the final season, the actress doesn’t think she’s found the one just yet, saying:
My first gut instinct is that she is single and adjusting the club again and that her shoulders have finally dropped.
With so much of the final season of the hit dramedy revolving around Rebecca’s love life now that she had finally moved on from her divorce, it might seem odd for the actress to be so adamant that her character is still single. Personally, I think it makes perfect sense, and I’m glad she said something.
Rebecca is not a character who needs romance in her life to be successful, and she proved that over the course of three seasons. To reduce her character to simply being someone else’s love interest is a disservice to the incredible woman she is. Not only that, but it diminishes the incredible friendships she built with Ted and Keely Jones, amongst others. Personally, I love the idea of Rebecca happily enjoying time to herself and getting to know herself without feeling pressured to figure it out for a man.
Even though I can admit to being an active participant in the shipping discourse surrounding Rebecca’s character, I’d much rather the focus remain on the professional exploits of the character moving forward. After all, Season 3 did end with Keeley approaching Rebecca about creating a women’s football league. Personally, I'd love to hear more the actress’ thoughts about that.
Perhaps, the reason we don't is because there really is a fourth season in the works or, my personal favorite take, that Ted Lasso is going to get a spin-off at some point in the future. In the meantime though, I just hope that Hannah Waddingham gets more questions about Rebecca's career than her love life. Besides, the real love life fans want to know more about is whether or not the Roy-Keeley-Jamie love triangle ever worked itself out.
If you find yourself disagreeing with Hannah Waddingham’s take on Rebecca’s future, then maybe it’s time to revisit the Emmy-winning series and take another look. All three seasons of Ted Lasso are available to stream now with an active Apple TV+ subscription.
