Charlotte Riley Joins ‘Ted Lasso’ Season 4 As Ted’s Potential New Love Interest

With a new season of Apple TV‘s Emmy-winning comedy Ted Lasso comes new cast members, and five episodes into Season 4, we’re still meeting fresh faces.

Season 4’s first four episodes saw Ted’s (Jason Sudeikis) triumphant return to Richmond, where he finally met the women’s team, including Coach Alice Chilton (Tanya Reynolds), Gemma (Abbie Hern), Lizzie (Faye Marsay), and Boots (Jude Mack). Heck, he even met Dani Rojas’ (Cristo Fernández) sister Maria Rojas (Paloma Cinco)! And Rebecca (Hannah Waddingham) and Keeley (Juno Temple) teamed up with another key player in the Lady Greyhounds’ story: Zelda Southport (Tracey Ullman). But in Season 4, Episode 5, “Riches of Embarrassment,” the show introduces a potentially crucial new — but still nameless — character unrelated to football, played by Charlotte Riley.

So who is the stage manager Ted meets in Ted Lasso? And what do we know about Charlotte Riley, the actor who plays the stage manager on Ted Lasso? Here’s what to know about Season 4’s new character and Riley’s successful acting career.

Who Plays The Stage Manager In Ted Lasso Season 4, Episode 5? Meet Charlotte Riley

Ted Lasso Season 4, Episode 5 sees Ted accompanying Beard to his ex Jane Payne’s (Phoebe Walsh) one-woman show, where she admits she lied about being pregnant to convince Beard to marry her and also makes wild accusations saying like Ted wanted to sleep with her. After the show, Beard visits Jane in her dressing room and the two unfortunately rekindle their toxic, stomach churning relationship. But while that’s happening, Ted heads back stage and meets a new potential love interest.

While he’s checking out the costumes back stage and whistling, a woman approaches, asks what he’s doing, and tells him whistling is back luck in theater. Wearing the new jeans the Lady Greyhounds bought him, Ted makes small talk and asks the woman about her job. She tells him she’s a stage manager and lets him in on the formative experience she had as a young girl watching a Shakespeare play. When she was 10, she said she “spent the whole play trying to work out how there was a balcony on the stage one minute and a giant banquet table the next.” Ted admired her desire to “peek behind the curtain” and help actors do what they do best. He related to her so hard he even called her “a theater coach.”

When the stage manager asked Ted who he was he introduced himself, then clarified that Jane’s comments about him in the play were born from “artistic license.” Before the woman could introduce herself, she was summoned by her walkie talkie and excused herself — but not without telling Ted “nice jeans” before she left. (Unfortunately he replied with an out of context, ” 22 young women bought them for me!” But it’s fine! The sparks were flying! The banter was bantering! The two gorgeous brunettes showed potential — especially after Ted told the team he felt he was finally ready to date again later in the episode. The question is, who is the stage manager? And will we see her again this season? While we wait to find out, lets learn more about Charlotte Riley, the actor who plays her, shall we?

Charlotte Riley On Ted Lasso: Why Ted’s Season 4 Love Interest Looks So Familiar

While we still don’t know the name of Charlotte Riley’s Ted Lasso character, we can tell you where you’ve seen her before! The 44-year-old English actor, writer, and wife of Tom Hardy has nearly 50 film and television credits on IMDb. Outside of Ted Lasso, Apple TV subscribers may recognize her as Kat on Trying, and she’s also starred in Masters of the Universe, Peaky Blinders, Edge of Tomorrow, London has Fallen, In the Heart of the Sea, Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, The Peripheral, A Christmas Carol (2019), Wurthering Heights (2009), and more.

Be sure to tune into new episodes of Ted Lasso Wednesdays on Apple TV to see if Riley returns.

And stay tuned for more Ted Lasso Season 4 coverage from Decider.