Ted Lasso caught fans by surprise with a full-on Christmas special in the middle of August with season 2 episode 4, “Carol of the Bells.” The episode has all the classic holiday themes and insular storylines one would expect from such a special, right down to a stop-motion rendition of the show’s intro sequence in the style of classic TV specials like Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. But why did Ted Lasso season 2 put out a holiday special in the middle of the summer?
The most obvious explanation would be that the episode’s August airdate was a result of covid-induced production delays. Ted Lasso season 1 premiered on Apple TV+ in the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, and much of the series’ success was due to its unyielding optimism in the face of dark times around the globe. Ted Lasso season 2 was written and produced in the midst of the pandemic, so it would make sense if the subsequent safety protocols pushed some episodes from their intended premiere dates.
However, that doesn’t seem to be what actually happened with the Ted Lasso holiday special. Per a report from The L.A. Times, the episode was added after Apple extended Ted Lasso season 2 from 10 episodes to 12, allowing for the writing team to come up with two more independent episodes to sprinkle into the existing story. One of those episodes was the Christmas special, which was apparently always meant to premiere in August. The show hadn’t even entered production for season 2 by December of 2020, so there could never have been a plan for the episode to actual air over the holidays.
Instead, it seems that the Ted Lasso creative team wanted to release an early Christmas special in homage to the troubled 2020 holiday season, during which so many families and friends were kept apart because of the pandemic. Speaking with The L.A. Times, director Declan Lowney called the episode “another chance at Christmas cheer, since we all maybe missed it last year.” In a way, there’s nothing truer to the spirit of Ted Lasso's story than a Christmas celebration in the summer – an intentional reason to celebrate friends and family, even when it might seem out of the ordinary.
Fans and critics alike have responded quite positively to the “Carol of the Bells,” praising its warmhearted storyline and relative independence from the core story of Ted Lasso season 2. The series is the perfect kind of show to do one-off episodes and specials, which give its lovable cast of characters fun new circumstances to play around in. The Ted Lasso Christmas special was pleasant surprise to come upon in the middle of August, and it should be just as good rewatched during the actual holidays.