If any character has taken the Internet by storm this year, most people would go far and above to nominate Roy Kent, the eternally grumpy footballer-turned-coach from Apple TV+’s Ted Lasso. Those who won’t are most likely the small portion of the population who have yet to be sucked into the whirlwind that is the Jason Sudeikis-led series — but would things have turned out differently had we not been blessed with the presence of Brett Goldstein in the role?
Ahead of the Primetime Emmy Awards on September 19, in which he is nominated for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series, Goldstein appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live to discuss the series and dispel rumors that he is, in fact, a CGI-ed fiction of the Ted Lasso writers’ imagination. (Just to confirm: definitely real.) The actor — who also serves as writer and executive story editor on the series — revealed that, despite being convinced he should play the grump with a heart of gold, it wasn’t a role written with him in mind.
As though we could imagine anyone else playing Roy Kent, Goldstein revealed that it wasn’t in the initial plan for him to work both on-screen and off on the comedy, and only worked out because he sent a self-tape in to his own writing team:
“I was a writer, and we were like, five episodes into writing [the show], and I started to think, ‘I think I’m Roy.’ I also thought, ‘No one around this table writing thinks I’m Roy,’ because I’m soft-spoken and I love The Muppets...it’s like, no one is thinking this. And obviously I didn’t want to make anyone uncomfortable, so when we finished the writer’s room, I filmed five scenes as Roy, and I emailed it to them and I said, ‘Thanks for having me. If this is awkward, or this is s**t, pretend you never got this email, and I promise I will never ask you about it. But if you like it, I think Roy Kent is in me [somewhere].’ [...] We wrote in LA, and I flew back to London, and when I landed, there was an email saying, ‘You know what? We can’t be bothered to keep looking. That’ll do.’”
Goldstein described his desire to play Roy as a “calling”, except for “no good”, something he also ascribed to his fondness for swearing, a characteristic that easily made its way into Roy — and perhaps part of the reason audiences love him so much. “It’s always been a dream of mine to get paid [to curse],” he said of his character’s fondness for swear words. “It’s something I got good at, you know what I mean? And you’ve got to use your talents.”
Goldstein is nominated alongside six of his Ted Lasso co-stars for Primetime Emmys, including Brendan Hunt, Jeremy Swift, and Nick Mohammed, all of whom are competing with Goldstein for Outstanding Supporting Actor. The series received twenty nominations in total, winning three Creative Arts Emmys already, including Outstanding Casting for a Comedy Series — rightfully earned, we think.
Ted Lasso also stars Hannah Waddingham and Juno Temple, and is available to stream on Apple TV+ now with new Season 2 episodes dropping every Friday. Check out Goldstein’s full interview below: