Few Ted Lasso fans likely expected the series to, in the end, be Jamie Tartt’s hero journey. But, with the Season 3 finale live and the show potentially over (pending news of a spinoff), it’s clear now that the one-time petulant, narcissistic footballer was the emotional center of the series this whole time—and maybe even emblematic of its entire mission.
While a theory that went viral after the season/series finale sent me spiraling—Ted Lasso celebrating Richmond’s win by dancing in his red sneakers was the show’s version of Dorothy clicking her ruby slippers before going back to Kansas—there is something to it. Over the course of the season, the mustachioed coach imparted folksy advice and, at times, legitimate therapy that helped his team of quirky, cantankerous weirdos find the brains, heart, and courage that had been holding them back from personal and professional fulfillment.
Jamie Tartt sorely needed all three gifts, and, by the end of the season, finally had them. The tantrum-throwing, womanizing egoist, whose undeniable talent was thwarted by his childish acting out on the field, became someone capable of fostering meaningful relationships. He learned vulnerability and humility, and, through his unlikely friendship with Roy Kent (Brett Goldstein), discipline. Moreover, he discovered how engaging with those things made him a better football player, a better leader, and a happier person.
In some respects, he is Ted Lasso’s greatest success story, evident by the huge ovation he receives from fans of his former team, Manchester United, who were impressed by his nobility and sportsmanship. Rewind to Season 1, and it would seem astonishing to describe Jamie Tartt, of all of the Richmond players, in this way. Jamie Tartt!
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Actor Phil Dunster, who has played Jamie for three seasons, is as surprised as we are. “It does feel like it comes from an honest, that it’s been earned,” Dunster tells The Daily Beast’s Obsessed. “It doesn’t feel like it happened in a vacuum, that all of a sudden, in one episode, Jamie was this great guy.
“Jamie is maybe a touchstone for the progression of everything that Ted Lasso is imparting on this club,” he continues. “He started off as the one who was the problem child. But we see that, as far as his progression goes, he has been taught these lessons that have been imparted to him, and he’s been deciding to use those lessons in those moments. ”
Dunster, who was born in Northampton, England, is speaking to Obsessed from Los Angeles, where he and several members of the cast had been for a carousel of panels, FYC events, and interviews to commemorate the (possible) end of the series and spotlight the show for awards voters—Emmy season is kicking into high gear.
The attention is exciting for Dunster, who is being tipped for an Emmy nomination for his performance this season. While Ted Lasso and its cast have been Emmy favorites in the previous seasons, this would be Dunster’s first nod; perhaps it was the easy-to-laugh-at, pretty-boy “Jamie Tartt” of it all that led to his being overlooked, while this season reveals the character’s full spectrum of emotional capability, not to mention Dunster’s acting talent.
Hollywood, California, however? That’s not exactly his happy place. “You might have to convert me,” he tells me, when I ask if he’s a fan of being in Los Angeles and in the “nice” weather. “About 65 degrees [Fahrenheit] is my sweet spot. Anything higher than that, I’m going to start sweating. I’m going to be burning.” He laughs. “But you guys have a lot of air conditioning over here. That’s, you know, not great for the environment. But it’s great for my immediate environment.”
There have been several standout moments from this past season that have earned Dunster this attention.
Episode 6, “Sunflowers,” took the Richmond squad to Amsterdam, where Jamie’s newfound dedication to the game over fame and fun is evident when he opts for extra training instead of partying with his teammates. His fledgling compassionate side leads him to bond with former adversary Roy Kent; he even teaches Roy how to ride a bike.
His most dynamic showcase is in the penultimate episode, “Mom City,” which has Jamie returning to his hometown for a major match against Manchester, and sees him finally confronting and working through his complicated feelings about his parents, the pressure that’s always been on him, and the ways in which, for all his showy confidence, he’s been broken.
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And of course, it’s hard not to swoon over the alternately inspirational and tear-jerking finale—there are so many quotes about what it means to change as a person, and what family means to different people—which puts the punctuation (an exclamation point, really) on how much Jamie has grown. Which, should it not be clear by this point, is quite a lot!
The Origins of Jamie Tartt
Now that the season—and again, possibly, the show—has ended and the Jamie Tartt transformation is complete, it’s interesting to look back at what the character and Dunster’s performance was like when the show began.
Prior to Ted Lasso, Dunster had roles in the British dramas Strike Back, Save Me, and Humans, playing characters that were a far cry from the diva football player, who has a cloud of juvenile snobbishness following his every swaggering move. What was it that made him a good fit to play such a part?
“I mean, it certainly wasn’t my football skills,” he says, laughing. “And it certainly wasn’t my taste in music or fashion, either.”
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When we speak, Dunster’s hair is neatly parted and he’s wearing a crisp, light blue polo shirt. It’s a far cry from the ostentatious track suits with brand labels emblazoned all over them, or the frosted tips Jamie sports in Season 3. And suffice it to say that Dunster has never shown up to a gala event wearing a suit jacket with no shirt underneath.
That said, Dunster was familiar with that type of braggadocious energy—and felt like he could understand how a person in Jamie’s position could become that way.
“A footballer is such a unique, strange brand of human,” he says. “They are all young and have so much money at their disposal. They’re like modern day gladiators. They walk out onto the pitch and they are cheered by up to 80,000 people. And they have the pressure of, if they f*ck up at their job, they are harassed and harangued.”
There were players like James Maddison, Cristiano Ronaldo, and David Beckham that he looked at as examples for what surviving that pressure might be like. He also felt there is something about the spirit of Manchester, where Jamie is from, that would color his specific strain of self-assurance. “And then insert any kind of reality TV star who fancies themselves a little bit,” he says, of his other inspiration for his performance. “Or a lot, in Jamie’s case.”
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“Those footballers, they have so much money, and they don’t have much else to spend it on, other than clothes,” he says. “For Jamie it’s about flashiness. It’s like how kings and queens and noblemen in the old days would wear huge robes made out of beautiful materials and diamonds. He’s rich like that, and that’s how he wants to show his worth.”
But as we learn throughout the series, all of that is superficial. “On the surface, he’s a real, simple asshole. Then, as you dig a bit deeper down, there are reasons that he is that person.”
Jamie & Roy Forever
Dunster is aware of what fans think about Jamie and Roy’s unexpected friendship in Season 3. Specifically, when the new buddies share the screen together, legions of viewers at home are shouting at their TV screens, “KISS!”
“I love the fanfiction,” he says. “And there’s some pretty intense fanfiction out there.” He laughs and adds, “But I’m like, yeah! They should be together!”
Formerly the most famous and most skilled players on Richmond, the two butted heads from the start. Roy was the seasoned veteran at the end of his career, and Jamie was the obnoxious kid at the start of his. Then there was the fact that, by Season 3, they both had dated Keeley (Juno Temple). Then, there was the complicated situation of both having feelings for her again, at the same time—but this time as the better versions of themselves, thanks to Ted Lasso’s teachings.
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Because of their tumultuous history and the deep-rooted nature of their past conflicts, their bond, now that there is one, is intense. It’s not a romantic relationship, no matter how much fans fantasize. But there is an undeniable intimacy to it.
“Intimacy, I think, is the right word,” Dunster says. “The thing they have in common is that they have been the most intimate and vulnerable with the same person. They also have in common that they share a similar level of exceptionalism in their own lives. Obviously Roy’s is more in his rearview mirror. But he understands Jamie. He understands the pressures that are on him, so knows how to speak to him. And in a way that Jamie maybe hasn’t had: a paternal figure in his life taking him under his wing like that.”
The intimacy between Jamie and Roy, Dunster concludes, is a “familial” intimacy. “Mine and Brett’s intimacy, personally, is far more sexually charged,” he adds, smirking and winking. “But we turned it into something far more platonic on screen.”
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