From Ted Lasso to SBS? Nick Mohammed on life after Nate

We’re just two months out from the resurrection of Ted Lasso, and there’s no word yet on whether Nick Mohammed has got the call-up. His character, Nathan “Nate” Shelley, has been the most divisive of the series, with the 2023 finale of the third season – widely thought to be the show’s last – seeing him controversially reunited with Ted (Jason Sudeikis) and his former team after a villainous and depressive season-long arc.

He’s speaking to me after being drafted for a new ad campaign for SBS (yes really, more on that soon), but I have to ask the question that’s on every Ted Lasso fan’s mind: will we see more of Nate in season four?

“Dunno!” Mohammed says with a grin. “It’s such a bad media-trained response, but I’m not allowed to say. So we’ll have to see ... ”

If Nate were hypothetically to come back, however, “just speaking generally, not specifically about season four”, the actor is careful to add, “I’d like to think he’s happier than he was.”

The same could be said of Mohammed, whose career has skyrocketed after his run on the much-loved, Emmy award-winning show. Though he’s been a successful (if somewhat niche) working comedian in the UK for the better part of two decades, Ted Lasso was undoubtedly his big break. It’s given him a profile internationally, allowed him to book bigger rooms for his live comedy, and led to even more exciting opportunities on-screen – from playing the Mayor of London caught up in a terrorism plot on Slow Horses to his pivotal role in last year’s record-breaking season of Celebrity Traitors UK.

“It feels like I’ve been given license by the industry to tackle slightly more dramatic roles,” he says, referencing the former. “[But Traitors] was the closest that I’ve felt to being a sportsperson! Everyone was watching the episodes live to avoid spoilers … It brought everyone together. It was as though people were watching their team play … When I betrayed [former rugby player] Joe Marler it was like the worst possible thing – it was like I had missed a penalty.”

Mohammed has sport on the brain because he’s also taking a role connected to the upcoming FIFA World Cup. The Ted Lasso star is posing as the “honorary executive chair of the World Cup Watchers’ Rights Association” in a new promotion campaign for SBS. With matches taking place in North America from June 12 AEST, and most scheduled within our workday, the Australian broadcaster – through Mohammed – is “standing up for your right to sit down and watch the beautiful game wherever you work”.

Well, “not all workers”, he points out: “If you’re a brain surgeon or an air