Can Nate Change His Stripes? Ted Lasso Fans Hope for ption in Season 3
Will Nate be able to make up for all he did in Season 2?
Ted Lasso by Apple TV+ has been a success since its premiere back in 2020. It gives us a look into the lives of the fictional soccer club AFC Richmond players and people involved with it.
Nathan Shelly, more commonly known as Nate, was the team’s equipment manager and later became one of its coaches. Nate was very shy at the beginning of the series and gradually grew more confident as his friendship with Ted Lasso developed. Nonetheless, Nate constantly felt humiliated which resulted in him doing numerous inappropriate things.
By the end of season 2, Nate leaked Ted Lasso’s panic attack to the media and left the team for its rivals West Ham United F.C., which was purchased by AFC Richmond's former owner willing to destroy them to spite his ex-wife Rebecca who got the club after the divorce.
The season 3 trailer showed Nate as West Ham United’s head coach, although he looks very lonely and regretful for what he did. This couldn’t but leave the fans wondering if there’s going to be a redemption arc in the upcoming season of Ted Lasso which is reportedly written to put a period in the overall story.
“Nate is an extremely well-written, superbly acted, and deeply flawed character. He gets more and more nuanced with every rewatch. I absolutely despise the way he is now, but I'm still hoping for some sort of ption in this final season,” wrote Redditor Kodiak_Jacq.
While people agree on Nate’s appalling behavior, there’s a considerable amount of doubt among the fans who aren’t certain if Nate’s personality can recover from what he did. However, there’s hope for it since Ted Lasso is a very optimistic series.
“I would also add that this is a show about an exceptionally positive person and the influence they can have on the people around them. […] Nate gives us that exploration, and season 3 will likely explore if that type of person can be won over in the end,” user vafrow speculated in his comment on Reddit.
The overall opinion is that Nate isn’t irredeemable. We can’t know for sure what is going to happen, but we can hope that the kindness and optimism that Ted Lasso is all about will prevail.