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Tanya Reynolds was not initially sold on Ted Lasso.
When her reps reached out about the possibility of a major role in season four, the English actress had never seen the Apple TV show. At that time, Reynolds was so consumed by other work — performing in The Seagull and rehearsing for 1536, both on stage in London’s West End — that she didn’t have the kind of bandwidth that auditioning would require.
Then, a month or so later, the opportunity came back around, and, having now wrapped The Seagull, Reynolds agreed to put herself on tape. After all, the scene she’d be reading was legitimately funny. Plus, Lasso was one of TV’s most decorated series, winning 13 Emmys (including two best comedy trophies) and a Peabody, and, in the three seasons prior, had made bona fide stars of its cast.
Before she knew it, Reynolds — who was then best known in TV circles as Lily, a teenage writer of alien erotica, on Netflix’s Sex Education — was hired as Alice, the assistant coach of AFC Richmond’s women’s soccer team and the most significant new face of Lasso’s fourth season. “Jason had asked to have a Zoom with me, which I assumed was part of the audition process,” she says, referring to creator/star Jason Sudeikis, “but he just sort of offered me the job on the Zoom.”
