When viewers fell in love with Ted Lasso last year, they also fell in love with the show’s it couple: Keeley and Roy. Played by Juno Temple and Brett Goldstein, Keeley and Roy are equal parts sharp and squishy, gruff and good. But are Keeley and Roy endgame? We sat down with Temple and Goldstein to find out, and in the process also learned the pair’s favorite little Ted Lasso Easter egg, which involves a certain little box of good morning biscuits. You can check out the video below to learn more, or read on for a full transcript.
The A.V. Club: When we open the season, you guys are still together and very much in love. That’s amazing, but it’s also interesting to me because so often writers struggle to to craft a stable onscreen relationship. It’s easier to break someone up and have the drama than to write and craft a stable, loving relationship. Brett, you’re a writer on the show. What do you make of that assertion, and how was the crafting of Keeley and Roy’s relationship?
Brett Goldstein: Well, I love that question, and it was very much a huge part of our discussion of what we wanted to do, because it’s quite a challenge. Most love stories that we see on screen end at them getting together. It’s the will they or won’t they, and then they do and then we end. Or, as you say, we break them up immediately and cause more problems for them. So the challenge was how do we tell a romantic love story after they’ve got together and keep it engaging and keep it interesting and sexy and funny and sad and all of the things that you can do in other stories. Can we do that in a relationship that stays together? I really hope we’ve achieved it, but yeah, we certainly like a challenge because it was like, “how do we do this?” And I can’t say anymore because you’ll have to see.
AVC: It really is sweeter than ever. Juno, why do you think that Keeley and Roy are good for each other? Why do you think they work?
Juno Temple: Because they hold each other accountable and because they listen to each other. They learn from each other, so they teach each other. I think they’re also very attracted to each other. There’s that kind of feral, sexy attraction. And then at the same time, there is a sweetness that Roy brings out for Keeley that I think she knows is just for her, and I think that is the romance in it for her. That never gets old, even if he’s constantly wanting to swallow the marshmallow goo back down. She loves it, and it is something that’s just for her and for Phoebe. They can share it.
AVC: Part of what I think makes Ted Lasso such a rich show are all the little details. What’s your favorite bit of information or text that made you say “that’s a great little detail?”
JT: The first thing that comes to mind for me is the incredible precision of biscuit size and intake that Hannah [Waddingham] does for Rebecca in scenes. I have literally seen her break off what she wants with her fingers to have portrayed how much she’s eaten before the scene starts [to correspond with] her anxiety levels. So if you pay attention to how much biscuit is left in the box or in her fingers or being put into her mouth, it is a very thought out decision that helps show her anxiety level. And that, I think, is something quite mesmerizing. That’s the first thing that comes to my mind.
BG: I would like someone to write a dissertation on the thematic size of biscuits that Rebecca eats, depending on her anxiety. It’s amazing.
JT: It is really precise. It is unbelievable. I remember when I first clocked it and I was like, “You do that every time? Oh, my God, you’re a wizard.”
