'Ted Lasso' star Phil Dunster weighs in on the open-ended series finale, giggling through scenes with Brett Goldstein, and life after playing Jamie Tartt (2024)

"It was really sad, but also, it's like the end of high school," Dunster told Insider of his emotional last day on set. "It was like we were all excited for the next thing to happen, but we all were loving it whilst we were still in it."

On the heels of the release of the series finale, Dunster reminisced about his favorite scenes from season three, spoke about his off-screen bromance with his "best mate" Brett Goldstein, shared his thoughts on how the love triangle involving Jamie, Roy Kent (Goldstein), and Keeley Jones (Juno Temple) plays out, and contemplated where his career is headed next.

In preparation for this interview, I was looking back at my notes from season one and I almost forgot how obnoxious Jamie was to his teammates. Seeing how far he's come, it's just one of the best character arcs on the show. When you think back to the first season, did you ever expect Jamie to evolve to this extent?

It's very nice of you to say. No, not really. It wasn't something that was part of the character progression that I was aware of. I think that Jason always knew that that's where he wanted it to go and Joe Kelly and Brendan Hunt, who are the creators of the show.

But to be honest, I was very conscious not to play that anyway, because if I knew where it was gonna go, I think it would dilute some of the more obnoxious elements of him.

And whilst I didn't wanna play a caricature version of him, I just wanted it to be... honest is the sort of highfaluting term. [Laughs.] Just give an honest version of it that's not planning for it to be anything else in the future. Just let the evolution happen in the present moment rather than somewhere else in the future.

And in such a big cast like this, how does it feel knowing that people have been singling out your character as one of the really impressive ones on the show in terms of their arc? Are you aware of all the fan love? Like, people are really rooting for you to get an Emmy nom for season three, just so you know.

That's very sweet. Well, to be quite honest, at this point, everybody has had such wonderful love on the show, and it's incredible really to think that on such a big cast — you may know better than I do, but it feels like everybody has had that time in the sun to show their character development and storyline.

But yeah, I've heard of Twitter, I've seen it a couple of times, and it is just wonderful. As an actor, if you're lucky, you do a fair few jobs, some that people don't really care about because it's just a job, and then others people really connect with it.

It's been so gratifying when you speak to people and you can tell when someone's sort of just saying nice things and when someone really means it. So, yeah, it's nice to see, I won't lie. I'm really pleased to be a part of something that people have connected with.

I want to talk about the finale. Primarily, I want your thoughts on the love triangle and just how vague it was left. I know the whole season sort of played around with: Is it Roy? Is it Jamie? Who's it gonna be? And then they decide to put that on Keeley, like, "You get to pick," and at the end, I think it's pretty open-ended. So what are your thoughts on that?

Well, as a card-holding supporter of the Jamie Tartt fan club, as I have to be, obviously I wish that she was with Jamie.

But the sort of woo-woo answer is I think that they've learned that the friendship that they have is more important than maybe the need for them to be an intimate couple.

But also, again, it's nice that the writers are good at this because they don't ever signpost what you should make of a character or certain situation. They are very good at making the progress of these characters a non-linear pathway.

If you had a nice, neat bow on it, then it might well feel like, "Ah, it's been spoon-fed."

I'm sure that there are loads of people who are like, "We just wanted an answer. We just wanted an answer to the throuple question." And yeah, I don't know. I won't say, other than being a Jamie Tartt fan, what I think should have happened.

But I think it's nice that we see them fight again at the end of the episode, Jamie and Roy, because it's all part of this mucky, ugly progression that they have together, that it's not just again, putting a bow on it and it's all fine now. They're still cantankerous, conceited people at their core. Well, maybe not at their core, but they have those tendencies.

And one of the other —

Wait, no, who did you think it should have been? You can be honest.

I am gonna be honest. I'm not gonna lie, I thought it would've been Roy just because it seemed like it was heading toward them, at a lot of moments. In going back to what you said about the writing of the show, it is so good in that, episode to episode, I would sort of be flip-flopping. Jamie would have a good moment where he really stepped up and then Roy would say something that maybe he shouldn't have said. [Laughs.]

Yeah.

I changed my opinion over the course of the season, but I did think it would've been Roy. But I do like her with both people though. So, it's tricky. They have different dynamics, those two pairings.

I see the reasons for both.

Yeah, exactly. The other part of your character that was really important and gets wrapped up a little bit is the aspect of his dad and sort of reconciling and maybe forgiving him. We see that scene of them together in the finale.

So, what was your reaction to seeing that play out, especially after last week's episode, which was a really big one for your character in terms of his family?

In the script, it says something like, "We see Jamie with James (the dad's character's name) looking through photos, smiling with one another, not repaired, but they're trying," something like that. And I was like, that feels like that's the place that it should be where they're not like, "Ah, let's just forget all of that stuff!" They are those people. They are who they are because of the struggles that they've been through at the hands of one another, particularly in Jamie's case.

He is, by being in a rehab facility, trying, and Jamie by just showing up to see him is trying. In the same way, it doesn't feel like an ending of that story. You could go on and tell that story. But it feels like a really smart way of doing it.

Going back to Roy and Jamie and their dynamic, it's been really fun to see how they went from not wanting to be in the same room together or at the same table together to bringing out the best in each other. So what is your all-time favorite Jamie and Roy scene on the show?

It's gotta be the bikes, Jamie teaching Roy to cycle. That was so fun. It was a sort of work holiday. We were in Amsterdam and it was a night shoot on the final night, and it was a wonderful time where Brett and I just spent the days walking the streets when we weren't filming. So that was just really special and fun and silly.

Honored is probably a big word for it, but it felt really cool that they sort of trusted me to — we improvved quite a bit of that.

Joe Kelly was also there, recording quite a few of the shots, the funny moments. The bit when I was like "...and pedal" or whatever it is, and then we both sort of fall over to the side as a joke, Joe Kelly moment. I'd say it's probably that that was the most fun and free portion of it.

So going back a little bit, there was that scene in episode two with the guys in the locker room and Roy was shouting at them and warning them not to spill any tea to Trent for his book. In the background of their shot, it looked like you were fighting for your life to not burst into laughter. People were trying to figure out, was that you in character or was that you trying so hard to hang on? [Laughs.]

Can't get away with anything these days, can you? The honest answer is that was intentional because Jamie later on says he thinks it's funny when the other people are shouting at him. But it may as well be because there are takes when I'm just giggling in the background anyway.

So, I can't take full credit and be like, "Oh, it was because I was being really smart about the progression." It was mostly because I just find him really funny and it's something about being in a scene with Brett, the giggle that I have with him is that same thing when someone farts in church, you're like, "Oh my god" and you can't laugh, but you just really, really want to.

That's always how I feel whenever I'm in a room with him. I always wanna laugh — not at him, with him. [Laughs.]

I think I read that you and Brett were already familiar with each other before "Ted Lasso" because of a play, right?

Yeah, I played him in a play.

So, how has the dynamic with him changed through working together on "Ted Lasso" for three or so years?

Well, I remember being rather intimidated by him only because he was a story exec and a writer on the show and knew more about the show because he had been working on it for the last six months, whatever. And also he was one of the lead cast and I was like, "Wow," and knew his work as well, his acting work as well as his writing work.

The incremental silliness that we had in between takes was the thing that bonded us. I just love him. He's a really emotionally literate person and he's funny and he's silly and he's fit. We're just good mates. We're just ordinary good mates.

The evolution of Jamie and Sam's dynamic, I feel like, is a little underrated because obviously the Roy and Jamie one is so prominent. But I think about that one as well, how he was such a bully to Sam and then by season three he's wearing his number jersey and things like that. So how did you feel about that progression with those two characters?

Super fun. It's funny. You think about Toheeb and you're like, oh wow. He's like, disgustingly young, I think he's like, 24 or something. And I feel like acting with him, I'm like, "Wow, this is special." I'm gonna enjoy it now, but look back on this and be like, "Wow, I can't believe I got to act with Toheeb Jimoh."

But also it's an interesting barometer for the impact that Ted is having on the team. It's lovely to see their stars rise in correlation with one another.

But it's also a really good indicator that Ted's impact is working, it's doing its job, that these two people who, it wasn't like bulls locking horns like it was with Jamie and Roy, but there's far more soft emotional interaction between the two of them.

Sam's just a nice person, a good nice person. And in order to understand him, Jamie had to soften first and become one of 11 rather than one in a million, you know?

What scene are you most proud of, either from season three or the entire show, in terms of your performance, how it came together, or some other factor?

Probably when we're in the sewer and I say "poopy" 'cause it's so silly and I can't really believe that it's made it in the show. [Laughs.]

You say that line again. It becomes a recurring thing, doesn't it?

Yeah. Brent, who's the post sound guy, was like, "We could just say 'poopy'" in episode 11 when I'm in the house with my mom. We're looking for something to say at that point before the camera comes onto me. And he's like, "Why don't you just say poopy?" [Laughs.] And we did and made it back in. It's a silly, silly recurring thing.

Now take me back to your last day on set filming. What was that? What do you remember? What was the vibe?

It was really sad, but also, it's like the end of high school, I guess. We'd filmed something early in the day and then we had quite a lot of time off before the final scene. And the final scene that we shot was just before we go on for the game and we watch all the footage of us, they had asked us to find a load of behind-the-scenes stuff that... You couldn't see that there was camera equipment in the background, but we had been filming with each other, candids, you'd say.

And I think just sitting around beforehand, it's that sense of anticipation for the end, but you're also like, I don't want this day to end because everybody's in a good space. We're all great mates by that point. It was like we were all excited for the next thing to happen, but we all were loving it whilst we were still in it.

For sure. And when fans run into you or have any interactions, what do they typically say? Are they surprised that you don't talk in the same accent as Jamie?

Yeah, they're almost surprised I'm an actor. It's amazing. There's a fair bit of singing of Jamie Tartt's song, which, it is my cross and I shall bear it. Appreciation of the show is a wonderful thing. I think that it's hit home in a deep sense with a lot of people and it's really lovely to hear that.

But that being said, it's mostly just people singing the Jamie Tartt song.

How do you feel that Jamie has stretched you as an actor? Do you see growth in yourself from where you first started on the show to where you are now?

Interesting. Well, it's interesting starting a new role on something else. I realize now how in the groove I was of him. Decisions or choices for scenes were far easier to come by after three years of playing the same part.

But I think it's mostly working with such great comedians that I hope that there's a timing, there's like an understanding of what the joke is and how to hit it, which has maybe just through osmosis of being around those people, I suppose is something that you wanna sort of take on board a bit.

But making bold decisions as an actor is the thing I think that makes it interesting. It was a safe space to do that in, was on that show where they welcomed going too far and they'd rather you go too far and we can bring it back than not far enough. So, yeah, bold choices and comedic timing from other people hopefully.

Is there anything else that you'll take as you continue?

Sports socks. I'll take a lot of them because I nicked a lot of them, that's for sure. [Laughs.] They're really good socks.

That and the scent of Brett, it'll never leave me. I'll take that wherever I go. [Laughs.]

And when this whole experience is over, when you're done with the interviews and the press, what are you going to miss most about the whole ride that this has been?

I don't know yet. I suppose that will become clear, but I think that I'm really trying to take it all in, I suppose. That's something that I'm trying to do whilst also reminding myself and continuing to enjoy the things that I enjoy, which are being with my partner at home and seeing my friends and doing the things that I enjoy doing, and just appreciating what this journey has been.

And it has been a wild, incredible journey. It started off when we were all at home in lockdown and you see some tweets about the show and you're like, "Oh wow! Great! People like it! That's good!" to getting two series off the bat and then the whole whirlwind that's come off of that, whilst also maintaining the same cast and the same energy that people have had.

I obviously will miss seeing people regularly. I will miss having a job. [Laughs.]So much of it I'll miss.

Now that the show is over, what sort of roles or projects are you looking into? Is there anything on your bucket list that you wanna go for now?

The honest answer is just, no, not really. Variety. I think any actor wants to have that variety and the end goal is certainly that anyway, of being able to sort of have a smorgasbord of characters.

I am also interested, again, having watched the people who work on "Ted," the way that they sort of interspersed directing and the producing of it and the acting in it. I think there's things in there that I'd really like to do, which has been awoken by doing this show.

But yeah, I would be very happy to do something that's very different from Jamie Tartt. Characters that I have played have been quite different from Jamie Tartt in the past. But a job's a job, you know what I mean? Sometimes you just gotta take a job.

I'm actually currently working on a show called "Surface," which is another Apple TV+ show, which is really great. And the writer, Veronica West, is excellent. And I'm really enjoying getting into that.

I'll be on the lookout for that. And the last question I want to ask, the final season was in the works for so, so long. Now that it's out here and the finale's out, what do you hope people take away from the show?

I hope they cry loads. It's a comedy where lots of people cry. I realize that. A lot of feedback is like, "It's a comedy guys, come on, come on. No one's laughing. They're all crying."

I guess I could say to the heart of the show is to give the opportunity to be kind. But really I hope that people get more into football and more people watch football and it becomes more normalized, that watching football is the thing that everybody does, because it's the best. Football's the best.