UPDATE: 1/12/23 8:55 p.m. ET
When asked if Behar was asked to portray Dottie Lasso on the Apple TV+ series at a PEOPLE X IHG Hotels & Resort panel on Thursday, January 11, co-creators Sudeikis and Brendan Hunt expressed their surprise.
“I, no. Joy Behar from The View?” Sudeikis asked quizzically, while Hunt added, “Respectfully, it would be news to us. We just work there.”
Sudeikis then added that he would be happy to have Behar join the Ted Lasso family. “She’s welcome to sit at the table,” he said.
Original story below:
Ted Lasso almost looked a little different — with Joy Behar playing the titular character’s mother.
“You were contacted about the possibility to be on my favorite show of all time,” The View producer Brian Teta said on the talk show’s “Behind the Table” podcast during a Wednesday, January 10, episode, adding that Behar, 81, “quickly dismissed” the role. “You were dismissive of it because it would require you to spend your hiatus in London.”
Behar confirmed that she turned down the role, adding, “It was too hot, do you remember there was a heat wave going on at that time, like, 100-degree weather, and I’d have to get on a plane and go in the middle of the heat? No. Listen, I’m a writer, I write my own stuff, I don’t care about other people’s stuff. I mean, I don’t need to be in everything.”
While Teta, 47, told Behar that the series was “the hottest show on TV,” she countered, “It was not the hottest show on TV.” She added that if the Apple TV+ series had filmed in the spring or fall, she “maybe” would’ve taken the role — “but not in the middle of the heat wave.”
Instead of Behar, the series cast Becky Ann Baker as Ted Lasso’s mother, Dottie Lasso. Baker went on to earn an Emmy nomination for the episode titled “Mom City.”
When Teta pointed this out to Behar, she replied, “Well, good for her. Bravo.” Teta added that he “couldn’t help but notice” that there were “Joy Behar-esque aspects” to the character.
“Well, that’s why they asked me,” Behar said, before adding that she has no regrets for not taking the role. (While Behar is best known for her role as a panelist on The View, she has previously dabbled in acting and made appearances in film and TV including 2009’s Madea Goes to Jail, 1993’s Manhattan Murder Mystery and 2016’s Crisis in Six Scenes.)
Ted Lasso centered around football coach Ted Lasso (Jason Sudeikis) who makes a move across the pond to coach a soccer team. The series, which earned many accolades during its run, premiered in August 2020 and wrapped up with a season 3 finale in May 2023.
While fans were hoping for the series to add another season, Sudeikis, 48, seemingly shut down those rumors in May 2023.
“The story is done,” Sudeikis explained on the “Fly on the Wall” podcast. “It sounds like such a political answer, but it’s the truth. We only conceived these three [seasons], then this thing became this big old thing.”
