Hannah Waddingham Needed Jason Sudeikis To Convince Her to Film These 'Ted Lasso' Scenes & We’re So Glad He Did
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If you’re a fan of Ted Lasso, then you know that Hannah Waddingham’s character Rebecca is the epitome of so many things. In addition to being the fearless manager of A.F.C. Richmond, Keeley’s ride-or-die best friend, and the number one fan of Ted’s iconic biscuits, she also a fantastic singer.
And while Rebecca’s singing chops were inherently there when Waddingham was hired for the role –after all Waddingham started her career doing musical theater– she wasn’t sure she’d actually use her singing abilities on the hit Apple TV+ show.
To her surprise, however, it turns out her co-stars, including lead Jason Sudeikis, were adamant about making Rebecca sing on the show. “The singing on Ted Lasso is a hundred percent thanks to Mr. Sudeikis,” Waddingham said in the press conference for her upcoming Christmas special, Hannah Waddingham: Home for Christmas. “When I rocked up, he was just like, ‘Guys, we’ve got this person that’s got all this wealth of experience, we’re having her singing!”
Hearing Sudeikis’ request, however, Waddingham was taken aback. “Why is a football club owner singing?” Waddingham remembered asking Sudeikis, who was also the co-creator and executive producer of the show. “We are not having this conversation, you’re just singing,” Sudeikis then replied. “And I was like, ‘Okay,” she said. “It was not a subject for debate.”
And while Waddingham’s singing skills are beyond impressive, she also revealed that her co-stars are even bigger “musical theater nerds” than herself. “I will say that [Sudeikis], Brendan Hunt, Brett Goldstein, they are all big musical theater nerds, far more than I am,” she said. “So they would come up [to me] with songs and I would just be like, ‘Guys, I don’t know the words to that’ and they would look at me horrified and clutch their pearls because they just love musical theater.”
In addition to being supportive in her singing for the show, it seems like Waddingham’s co-stars were equally excited to join her in her Christmas special, out on Nov. 22. When she asked them to guest star on the show, which also has special guests Leslie Odom Jr., Luke Evans, Sam Ryder, among others, all of them jumped at the opportunity. “They were all just like, ‘Absolutely!'” Waddingham remembered. “When are we doing it? What are you gonna ask me to dance? Are you gonna ask me to sing?” they then asked her. “Everyone was so keen outta the gate.”
Among the special appearances from the Ted Lasso crew, for example, is Nick Mohammed (Ted Lasso’s Nate), who’s seen dangling from the ceiling at a point in the show. “Well, we’ve got this idea that you would be trying to distract everyone so much that eventually we put a hook on your back and like have you like flying out into the fly floor,” Waddingham told Mohammed. “And he went, ‘Yeah, and I should stay there for the entire performance just with my legs dangling.'”
“It’s just great,” Waddingham added. Talk about a supportive cast! Waddingham’s long-awaited singing spectacular, Hannah Waddingham: Home for Christmas, will be available on Apple TV+ on Nov. 22.
Before you go, click here to see which artists just released new music in time for the holidays.