WARNING: Spoilers for Ted Lasso Season 2 below.
After playing Nate Shelley, the under-estimated equipment boy in the first season of Ted Lasso who works his way up to assistant coach for AFC Richmond, actor Nick Mohammed had his work cut out for him as Nate made a surprising heel turn in the second season. Feeling neglected by Coach Lasso (Jason Sudeikis) who Nate felt “abandoned” him, the character began a slow, toxic descent that was only accelerated after he engineered a game-winning play. By the finale, Nate had fully betrayed Lasso and the team by accepting a job at their rival West Ham.
In a new interview on what it’s been like playing the now-hated character, Mohammed revealed that he actually had to play things very carefully around town where the British are known to take their football fandom very seriously. Via The Wrap:
Mohammed lives in the Richmond area of London, home to the AFC Richmond team that Ted coaches in the series. (He was there long before the show came along, he hastened to point out.) And that means he and his wife and kids often frequent some of the same places as the characters in “Ted Lasso” — places where Nate would once have been welcome, but now not so much.
“There was a time when some of the other cast members were a bit concerned for my welfare,” he said with a laugh. “West Ham sent me a shirt after Season 2 with ‘MOHAMMED’ on the back. And I messaged them and said, ‘I don’t know if I can wear this out just yet. I might get attacked.’”
Fears for his safety aside, Mohammed is nothing but appreciative for the chance to stretch his acting chops beyond his usual comfort zone of “slightly bumbling, awkward kind of comedy.” He relished the challenge of taking Nate down a more serious, less joke-filled path.
“In my experience, if you’re a supporting character, you don’t usually get the opportunity to go on those journeys,” Mohammed said. “The lead characters get to develop and change, but the supporting ones are often just a constant foil for them. So this was very fun.”
(Via The Wrap)