*clears throat* So-
Buckle up, this is a long one
“The reason we start with Rebecca is all rooted in George Roy Hill starting on those long close-up shots of Robert Redford in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, ‘cause he was an unknown Broadway actor, but George Roy Hill wanted to let people know that yes, [Paul Newman] is in here, don’t worry, but this guy is in the movie too. So, this show is about Rebecca, even though it’s called 'Ted Lasso’, in my opinion. The first season, certainly." - Jason Sudeikis
“I had this picture in my head of what Rebecca looked like, more just in essense, like an aura, and I walk in, and see who we know now as Hannah, and I saw Rebecca. I saw Rebecca first, and then I got to meet Hannah.” - Jason Sudeikis
HANNAH: Were you thinking, “She’s a giant!”
JASON: No, I didn’t think that. I mean, we talked about it that day. I remember you being sort of surprised that I didn’t comment on it. I think I said, “It wouldn’t bother Ted. It doesn’t bother me.”
“You get little glimpses or an eye flutter of it as early as episode one. When Ted says to her, “Oh, yeah, I heard about that. How are you doing?” — knowing that this was going to be a longer-running thing — it allowed me to give a smile, but an acknowledgment of somebody being so direct to her. In my head, that is literally the first moment anybody had checked in with her. I was glad that, in the edit, that came across. That slight startle.” - Hannah Waddingham
“I knew when playing that scene we’d go to Rebecca’s face after Ted asked to have to sit with it. Sometimes you put that in the script and other times you don’t, but you just know it editorially.” - Jason Sudeikis
“I do think Rebecca likes him very early on, and that gets in the way. She didn’t think her plan through. She saw this guy online and thought, What an idiot, let’s get him to destroy the club. She didn’t think she would actually have chemistry and empathy with this person.” - Hannah Waddingham
”She stops weaponizing him early on, like, when she gets to know him, basically after [episode] 4, it’s no longer [that].“ - Jason Sudeikis
"Rebecca finds things that she respects Ted for far earlier than people think.” - Hannah Waddingham
INTERVIEWER: When you look at [Ted and Rebecca] there’s actually a lot of similarities between them. They’re both dealing with the end of a relationship, they’re trying to navigate heartbreak, and what their sense of identity is outside of what has been their lives for several years. […] Was there a conscious thought about some of the paralels between their journeys with that in mind?
BRENDAN: Yes. […] We will see a little more of why they are kindred and parallel spirits in season 2
“I do believe they are soulmates.” - Jason Sudeikis
“They are ultimately soulmates, in whatever form.” - Hannah Waddingham
“She realizes that they’re each other’s saviors. She unwittingly has saved his life by bringing him away from his wife and his home life, and he has been brought into her life to bring her strength and sunshine when there was none.” - Hannah Waddingham