Not all of the actors are former professional athletes or, for that matter, former footballers.

But find out some who were, like Cristo Fernández, who plays the crazily hysterical Latin American football player Dani Rojas in AppleTV + Ted Lasso, It was a feat worth screaming “objective” for series co-creator Bill Lawrence and casting director Theo Park.

“Anyone we choose will have shootable football-soccer talent, so we don’t have to overtake everyone,” Lawrence added of the types of actors the production was looking for in its first season.

We’re chatting with Lawrence and Park today on Crew Call about the assembly of losing English Premier League side AFC Richmond, which Kansas native yank coach Ted Lasso, played by Jason Sudeikis, is tasked with overseeing. oversee. Unlike other comedy series on streaming and cable networks, which are all about casting established character actors and comedic faces, Ted lasso rolled the dice on a number of new UK faces (at least to US viewers) to get some winning results.

When it comes to completing the set for Lawrence, “If you already have the lead role on your show and pick the planets (that) revolve around him if he’s the sun,” that’s a slam. -dunk.

“Once you got him (Jason) in the middle, it was a free coin-filling game that we put around him,” Lawrence added.

the Scrubs the creator had aspired to work with Sudeikis for some time.

“When you talk about looks it’s a conundrum: this guy can be a silly male comic, a good looking male drama role, a comedic villain,” says the co-creator. Log in below to listen to our conversation. Park is the casting director of Amazon’s Next Ambitious the Lord of the Rings series, and worked in the casting department on such mega-movies, which are often shrouded in secrecy, like Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Star Wars: The Last Jedi.

Out the door this awards season, Ted lasso previously recorded a Golden Globe victory for Sudeikis in the Male Comedy Series category; three Critics Choices Awards for Comedy Series, Best Actor Sudeikis and Hannah Waddingham in the Comedy Series category for Best Supporting Actress, and two WGA wins for Comedy Series and New Series.