Ted Lasso Pulled Same Trick as HIMYM When It Came to Coach Beard’s Name

Ryan Schwartz
·2 min read
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Minor spoiler alert: Ted Lasso‘s Season 3 finale confirmed that Coach Beard’s first name is Willis. We say confirmed, not revealed, because the series already revealed Beard’s first name in Season 2. We just didn’t know it yet.

Ted first referred to Beard as Willis in Season 2, Episode 1, “Goodbye Earl.” Only then his first name was “hidden” in a classic sitcom reference — more specifically, a Diff’rent Strokes reference. During an unofficial meeting of the Diamond Dogs, Ted turned to Beard and channeled his inner Gary Coleman when he asked: “What you talkin’ about, Willis?”

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It was right there, you guys.

 

Eighteen years earlier, the CBS comedy How I Met Your Mother pulled off a similar stunt involving the name of the titular mother. In Season 1, Episode 9, “Belly Full of Turkey” (OAD: Nov. 21, 2005), the series’ protagonist Ted encountered a stripper who introduced herself as Tracy. It was at that point that our narrator chimed in to tell his kids that that was the story of how he met their mother, eliciting a very animated response from Penny and Luke before he assured them that he was only kidding. It would be another nine years before HIMYM aired its polarizing series finale and revealed that Cristin Milioti’s character was, in fact, named Tracy — Tracy McConnell — meaning that our narrator was only half joking in Season 1.

Whether or not it was always the plan to reveal Beard’s name is Willis is unknown — but when we asked portrayer Brendan Hunt about Beard’s name following Season 2’s “Beard After Hours,” he answered, “If we ever do reveal Beard’s name — by which I mean if we ever decide it — we have options. But we don’t know what we’re going to do. It definitely won’t be for a while.”

In addition to confirming Beard’s full name, Wednesday’s presumed series finale saw Hunt’s alter ego put down roots in Richmond, where he stayed and married a very pregnant Jane. For a complete recap, click here.

Launch Gallery: <i>Ted Lasso</i> Reveals Fate of Over 30 Characters in Likely Series Finale

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