NICK MOHAMMED

Ted Lasso

The charmingly awkward Nate shocked

Ted Lasso fans with his season two arc on the Apple TV+ comedy when, having felt ignored by his colleagues at AFC Richmond, he turns his back on the team after a confrontation with the title character in the season finale.

“Back in season one, I remember Jason [Sudeikis] distinctly outlining season two as being like The Empire Strikes Back, with Nate [turning] to the dark side,” recalls Mohammed, who earned an Emmy nom for the comedy’s first season. “We knew that it was going to maybe antagonize the fans of the show to a degree, and so it was [a moment] that we knew we had to get right.”

The actor admits his character’s development was daunting, as it was a kind of performance he’s never delivered before. “If I have a comfort area, it’s very much in doing the awkward-comedy thing,” Mohammed says. That discomfort — as well as the sudden attention he earned on the massively successful series — was an asset when shooting Nate’s fight with Ted. “I remember Jason saying, ‘You’ve got to use that unfamiliarity,’ ” he says. “Nate is going through a similar journey — he’s not used to getting media attention. It felt like art imitating life. [Usually] I would try to make it light, to find the funny in the dialogue. But there were just too many moments in this season that were far more emotional or dramatic, or genuinely not very nice.”

Nick Mohammed on Ted Lasso