‘Ted Lasso’s Phil Dunster Says Jamie-Roy Dynamic Is ‘Best Thing About Doing the Show’

[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for Ted Lasso Season 3, Episode 4, “Big Week.”]

Since Ted Lasso debuted in 2020, Jamie Tartt (Phil Dunster) has been one of the comedy’s most compelling characters, and Season 3 is proving the point as the cocky soccer player channels his emotions into pumping up his fellow teammates.

But a recent turn of events is shifting Jamie’s focus from the team itself to his career as a footballer against new star player Zava (Maximilian Osinski). Eager to surpass the God-like figure, he decides to lean on former foe-turned-ally Roy Kent (Brett Goldstein) for some additional training which involves early wakeups and intensive practice sessions in the park.

Where the journey will take Jamie next alongside Roy and the rest of AFC Richmond will remain to be seen, but in the meantime, Dunster is offering some insight. Plus, he teases whether or not the show will address the Jamie-Roy-Keeley (Juno Temple) love triangle, and shares what it means to be part of a show known for its mental health advocacy.

(Credit: Apple TV+)

What has it been like getting to evolve Jamie and Roy’s relationship?

Phil Dunster: It’s joyful. It’s the best thing about doing the show for me. I love him because he’s such a good scene partner. He’s never an actor who will try and win the scene. He will always share it. So he’s very generous in that sense. But also it just feels like there’s always conflicts bubbling underneath the surface with the two of them. You’re never too sure about whether it’s gonna kick off between the two of them or if they’re gonna have an intimate moment. I feel very supported by Brett when I’m in a scene with him.

One of the reasons they’re drawn together is because Jamie’s motivated to become better than star player Zava. What was your initial reaction to learning about that storyline which had otherwise been a secret to viewers before Season 3’s premiere?

It’s funny because you can definitely mirror Danny turning up in Season 1, this incredibly talented striker who sort of takes the limelight away from Jamie. There are obviously differences, but there is that parallel. The difference in how Jamie reacted to Danny to how he reacted to Zava, no one really knows. And I think that that says huge amounts about Jamie’s character development and the impact that Ted has had on him. It’s a non-linear thing in that Jamie has learned these lessons and is still quite conceited and angry in how he goes about responding to Zava’s arrival. But he’s doing it in a more generous way, a more selfless way. He’s utilizing that sense of entitlement to have an impact on the betterment of the team rather than himself, I think.

Part of the way Jamie hopes to surpass Zava on the field is to be trained by Roy. Does he want to be trained by Roy because he believes he’s a great mentor and a formerly great player or is it purely to beat Zava?

Well, certainly he respects Roy. He respects his quality. In Season 1, Episode 4, [Jamie says] I used to have a poster of you on my wall like there is that inherent respect that he has for him. And I think that it feels like the Zava element for Jamie is more of a catalyst to him in Season 3. And In Season 2, Jamie rescinded himself from his father and was embraced by the team, but also by Roy. And I think that it’s a part of that paternal process that Jamie and Roy are progressing into.

(Credit: Apple TV+)

It feels like Zava is a flashpoint and the catalyst that Jamie needed. Roy was always the person that was going to be able to take [on the task] because Ted Lasso couldn’t do that for Jamie. He doesn’t have the football acumen. He doesn’t understand. He can make him a better person, but Roy can make him a better player. It’s taken this much breaking down into humility for Jamie, but finally, he’s open to being taught.

While the show can get serious at times, we saw some comedic elements of Jamie and Roy’s new dynamic. What else can fans expect as it progresses this season?

There’s a really wonderful episode — Episode 6 I think — people are gonna enjoy. I won’t give any specifics, but there’s a scene that has probably been one of my favorite scenes to film — particularly with Brett, but maybe of the whole show — where we just were given free rein to sort of mess about for like half an hour. It’s a deepening of the relationship, a deepening of conflict that goes on throughout the season. There’s security between the two of them of like a covert emotional maturing. Again, I think that the audience wouldn’t necessarily appreciate it if all of a sudden the two of them are like Beard and Ted Lasso. There’s a deepening of all elements and characteristics, but also a softening overall.

Not to stir up any bad blood before there might be any, but will the Jamie-Roy-Keeley love triangle be addressed as the season continues?

Yes, it will be. Someone somewhere will speak about it at some point, and maybe not in the way that people think that it will. Some people might read from that that Jamie and Roy have a wild love affair. I’m not gonna rule that out, but… [Laughs].

I mean, I don’t want anything spoiled but we can’t not ask.

Me too. I mean, at one point, I was livid when they told me what happened. I was like, oh, “don’t spoil it for me…”

You just visited the White House with your costars to promote mental health advocacy. What does it mean to know the show has had such a profound impact in that way?

I mean, as with any show ever, you don’t know how it’s gonna turn out. When you’re making it you’re never too sure what the tone is gonna be, what impact it’s going to have, and all of that stuff. Even the extent of the kindness and warmth. I think I was a bit more wrapped up in Jamie’s world. But there were moments, particularly with Sam’s storyline with his dad about feeling homesick when there is a cake brought in and the camaraderie of everybody on the team.

It’s a focused moment on the warmth that is kind of heightened from the actual world of these footballers who maybe wouldn’t take homesickness as seriously as Ted Lasso was taking it. I think that that was one of the first points at which this feels like it’s in a slightly separate universe from that football world. I think because it came out in the pandemic, which a lot of people have said, it was a time at which people needed kindness. They needed people in leadership positions who showed qualities of delegation, understanding, of listening.

Even so, because it was in the pandemic we were all at home, it’s quite hard to know that impact [and] see what other people’s reactions were because we were at home. So it’s been a real slow burn for all of us. The response wasn’t overnight, it was a slow progress. So going to the White House feels totally surreal.

Ted Lasso, Season 3, New Episodes, Wednesdays, Apple TV+