Jason Sudeikis Reveals How Ted Lasso’s Optimism And Kindness Was Inspired By Trump’s Escalator Ride

Actor Jason Sudeikis revealed over the weekend how his Ted Lasso comic book creation got its signature kindness.

It came in 2015 when Sudeikis wondered where he wanted to go with his career and if he should revive the American transplant he had portrayed in short sketches two years earlier.

The first incarnation was more “belligerent,” the actor said. But times changed.

“It was the culture we lived in,” Sudeikis said the guard.

‘I’m not very active online and it even touched me. Then you have Donald Trump coming down the escalator.

“I was like, ‘OK, this is crazy,’ and then what he unlocked in people… I hated that people didn’t listen to each other.

Trump announced his 2016 campaign after descending Trump Tower’s gold elevator in 2015. Sudeikis said that’s when he realized he wanted to make Lasso kinder

“Things got very binary and I don’t think the world works that way. And as a new parent – we had our son Otis in 2014 – I thought, ‘Boy, I don’t want to add anything to this.’

“Yeah, I just didn’t want to portray it.”

Any cynicism was removed from the Apple+ character. And the result was a warm, naive coach who was recruited from college football to take charge of England football team Richmond AFC.

The audience in the US and intrigued viewers in the UK

The show is nearing the end of its third season, which Sudeikis claims is its final season, though he’s not ruling out spin-offs.

He said he hoped it had a lasting legacy.

“Richmond is, metaphorically speaking, like a form of utopia,” he said. And yet it must honor that not everywhere outside that utopia is utopian. And so, how would you deal with these conflicts?

“From back in 2015 when we first thought, ‘What is this thing?’ I just knew inside that this man was real. He’s complicated. He’s not perfect. He’s going through things. But this is who he is. He’s actually nice.’

Lasso’s battles with mental health even got the cast invited to the White House. Other cast members said they freaked out, but Sudeikis took it upon themselves.

Sudeikis in the briefing room in March when the cast visited the White House

“I had been in a fake Oval Office a number of times,” Sudeikis said, “so there’s a little part of me that isn’t impressed and just keeps my stuff together.

And I had met the president when he was vice president and he’s a very warm man. It’s like meeting your good friend’s father or your young friend’s grandfather.

“He makes you feel at home, and that house happened to be the White House for that afternoon.”