Jason Sudeikis credits ex Olivia Wilde with encouraging him to develop 'Ted Lasso'

It is just like Ted Lasso to demure and credit his teammates before himself.

That's what Jason Sudeikis, who plays the beloved fictional titular character in Apple TV's Ted Lasso, did when explaining how the hit series came to fruition in this new Entertainment Weekly cover story. Here is the excerpt in question:

"Sudeikis was finishing his decade-long stint on SNL, first as a writer and then a writer-performer, when NBC approached him about starring in a commercial to promote the network's broadcast of Premiere League matches. The pitches from the advertising agency included one about a shouty, belligerent football coach who becomes manager of an English soccer team. Sudeikis liked the idea, but not the character. 'I wanted to play something sillier,' he says. To help flesh out the idea, the SNL star recruited writer-producer Joe Kelly (SNL, How I Met Your Mother) and [Brendan] Hunt, who played Coach Beard in the commercial opposite Sudeikis' Ted Lasso. ('A name plus a noun is funny,' says Sudeikis on the origins of his alter ego.) 

"The commercial, which aired in August 2013, was a viral hit, and another ad followed the next year. Sudeikis had such a good time playing Lasso that his then fiancée, actress Olivia Wilde, suggested he develop the character further. 'Liv was like, 'You should do [a] TV show or a movie,'' he says. In early 2015 he spent a week in New York with Hunt and Kelly assembling the bones of a Ted Lasso TV show."

News began circulating last November that Sudeikis and Wilde had ended their nine-year relationship and seven-year engagement. They share two children, Otis and Daisy.

The story, written by Clark Collis, goes on to reveal that the original script remained untouched for several years while Sudeikis was busy elsewhere before Scrubs creator Bill Lawrence became attached. Eventually, the duo began pitching to networks but three of the four passed—designating Apple as the series' home. It's a safe bet that those other three are now kicking themselves.

Sudeikis also dispelled any notion that Ted's marital problems were inspired by his breakup with Wilde: "One has nothing to do with the other." Lawrence noted that the storyline "predates the real-life events" and "is a case of life imitating art, rather than the other way around," as relayed by Collis.