Ted Lasso character Jamie Tartt, the original star scorer for AFC Richmond, pulls from a number of real-life football players, according to star Phil Dunster. Jamie starts off season 1 as a cocky, self-important jerk who frequently stirs up trouble in the locker room, but he grows out of that persona a bit by the end of the show’s first season. Jamie’s arc continues in Ted Lasso season 2, which dropped its premiere episode on Apple TV+ on July 23.
Though a silly comedy at times, Ted Lasso has become a big hit largely because of its grounded sincerity. The series treats nearly all of its characters and storylines with respect and nuance, and that transfers onto the football pitch as well. Like any sport, real-life football (soccer for Americans) is filled with big personalities and egos, which often are just as entertaining to watch as the sport itself.
Jamie embodies the persona of the egotistical athlete stereotype in Ted Lasso, but the character is also based on a number of real footballers, according to the actor who’s brought him to life. In a recent exclusive interview with Screen Rant, Dunster discussed the various players who inspired Jamie’s character on and off the pitch, a sizable list of names that fans of the sport will immediately recognize. However, Dunster also emphasized that he always wanted Jamie to be an independent character who wasn’t too closely tied to any one real-life figure. Read Dunster’s full quote below.
I think that there's some that I've learned from more than others. I tried to keep it fairly vague, but I've watched football my whole life and I love it, so I probably have picked up lots of people along the way. And I think who Jamie would model himself on may be slightly different from who I would model Jamie on. I think Jamie looks at people like David Beckham: the different hairstyles; he wore a bandana when he met Prince Charles - that's the sort of audacity that he had with his styling. He would probably model himself on Ronaldo, on Eric Cantona. I sort of have that in mind when I'm working with Jacky Levy, the costume designer, and also with Nicky Austin, the makeup designer. We found that character. I think that there are characters like Jack Grealish, who I'm very fond of, and Olivier Giroud. Maybe the arrogance of Dimitri Payet is probably in there somewhere, as well.
It makes sense that Jamie’s character is inspired by so many different real-life footballers, and in fact, he isn’t the only Ted Lasso character with striking similarities to actual figures in the sport. Ted himself, for instance, has been compared to American football coach/manager Terry Smith, who briefly owned and managed the English football club Chester City in the early 2000s. While Ted’s story and whole persona are clearly unrelated to Smith, their shared origin in American football is still interesting.
As for Jamie, it looks like he’ll have a fun new arc in Ted Lasso season 2, which began with him appearing as a contestant on the fictional reality TV dating show Lust Conquers All – a clear reference to Love Island. Clearly, AFC Richmond’s former leading scorer still has some steps to take on the road towards full self-awareness, and it should be entertaining to see him continue to stumble down that path. Ted Lasso season 2 airs new episodes every Friday on Apple TV+.