Ted Lasso S3 Finale: Ted's Iconic Celebration Proves He Has Finally Conquered Soccer

This article contains spoilers for the "Ted Lasso" Season 3 finale

In many ways, the "Ted Lasso" Season 3 finale proves to be a full circle moment for its titular coach. Ted starts out the series by bringing his college football team to victory. Three seasons' worth of twists and turns later, he finally does the same for the AFC Richmond. The occasion feels celebratory in and of itself, but viewers may have picked up on a smaller piece of evidence which proves that Ted has finally made it in soccer — the return of his iconic dance.

All the way back in the "Ted Lasso" pilot, the character gained notoriety for his enthusiastic version of the Running Man dance while celebrating with his football team. In the Season 3 finale, he brings the dance back after AFC Richmond secures the ultimate win for his final game coaching them. The message of the dance is clear: after all these years, Ted has attained mastery over soccer, just as he once did with football.

Ted Lasso's beloved victory dance isn't just a major indicator of his character's progression through the series. It also holds special meaning for actor Jason Sudeikis, who actually originated this little Running Man dance routine well over a decade before the series first featured it. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, the star revealed its actual origin. "It's the same dance I did when I was 15 years old and one of the few white kids on a basketball team in Kansas City to make my teammates laugh," he said.

Sudeikis' dance proved popular in the ensuing years, with it becoming a fan-favorite gag during his appearances in the "What's Up With That?" skit segments of "Saturday Night Live." Ultimately, the warm audience reception to this bit led Sudeikis to incorporate it into "Ted Lasso," mirroring its beginning as a victory dance for sports events. "The irony and the beauty is that I went through all this [comedy] training, did all this stuff, and the same thing that I did at 15 is the same thing I did at the beginning of [Ted Lasso]," the actor noted.