Having covered this business for a while, I’ve written several stories over the years about pilot and series recastings, and it always strikes me as one of the cruelest moments for anyone to experience in this business.
Imagine you’ve been given a role in a pilot: The exciting news appears in the trades, you film the episode and take the cast publicity photos. Then your show is picked up! But there’s a caveat: Your role is being re-shot with a new actor. Devastating! Cue sad trombone sound effect.
That’s why I like these kinds of stories better: The background actors, guest stars and recurring actors who eventually graduate to series regular status thanks to sheer persistence and talent. That’s the case this season for “Ted Lasso” standout James Lance, who plays Trent Crimm — formerly of The Independent, now just independent — on the show.
Lance was elevated to series regular in Season 3 of “Ted Lasso,” and Trent Crimm is now a major part of the action, shadowing AFC Richmond for a book about the football club. Along the way, we’ve learned more about the character — including a heartfelt scene with Colin (Billy Harris) about what it’s like to be gay and closeted in sports. Trent is also now a new member of the “Diamond Dogs” — the guy-bonding group made up of Ted (Jason Sudeikis), Beard (Brendan Hunt) and Higgins (Jeremy Swift).
“In Season 3, Trent is really starting to relax, drop his defenses and feel part of the game,” Lance says. “And then there was also my experience as James Lance, having just coming in now and again, to spending a lot more time on set with these people. I’m the new boy on the block. So, there was a lot of emotions flying around, for the character and for me.”
Lance has been on “Ted Lasso” from its very first episode as Trent, starting out in a minor role as the sports journalist who thinks the new coach of AFC Richmond is nothing more than a joke. He’s not seen much in that first season, but Lance says he recalls how, even early on, Sudeikis hinted that there was more to come.
“There was this conversation that I had with Jason Sudeikis after we shot the second press room scene, and we just chatted in the car park,” Lance recalls. “I told him, ‘this is why I think Trent’s the way he is. I think he grew up with a tough dad.’ And then Jason to me said, ‘well, did you know, this series is all about bad dads?’ We just had this little chat and I’m saying I don’t think that Trent’s living the life he wants to live. That lasted about three minutes. And on reflection, it changed the course of certainly my life and Trent Crimm’s.”
Lance says he later received a text from Sudeikis, adding that Trent would continue to be around in Season 2 — but his real breakout would be in Season 3. After reading that, Lance says, “The truth is I cried. And I said to my wife, ‘read this.’ And she read it and she burst into tears. But we didn’t know much more than that. All we knew was there plans for Trent Crimm, which means there was plans for me as an actor.”
He didn’t find out for a while what that would mean. In fact, Trent Crimm quits The Independent — giving the character a new sense of purpose and freedom. “All of that is the ultimate playground for an actor,” Lance says. Not a bad run for Trent Crimm, The Independent, and James Lance, The Series Regular.
