Colin Hutton
Having covered this business for a while, I’ve written many stories over the years about remaking the pilot and series, and it always strikes me as one of the roughest moments anyone has in this business.
Imagine you’ve been given a role in a pilot: the exciting news show in Occupations, you film the episode, and you take publicity photos of the cast. Then your offer is captured! But there’s a caveat: your role is being re-shot with a new actor. Severe! Cue sad trombone sound effects.
That’s why I like these kinds of stories best: background actors, guest stars, recurring actors who eventually graduate to series regular status thanks to sheer persistence and talent. Such is the case this season with ‘Ted Lasso’ breakout star James Lance, who plays Trent Cream – formerly of The Independent, now Independent – on the show.
Lance has been promoted to series regular in season three of “Ted Lasso,” and Trent Crimm is now a major part of the action, shadowing AFC Richmond for a book on 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 men’s bonding group made up of Ted (Jason Sudeikis), Beard (Brendan Hunt), and Higgins (Jeremy Swift).
“In Season 3, Trent really started to relax, drop his defenses, and feel like he was part of the game,” says Lance. “And then there was also my experience as James Lance, having just come over and over again, to spend a lot of time on set with these people. I’m the new kid on the block. So, there was a lot of emotion flying around the character and for me.”
Lance has been on “Ted Lasso” since his first episode as Trent, starting in a minor role as a sports journalist who believes the new coach of AFC Richmond is nothing more than a joke. He didn’t see much in that first season, but Lance says he remembers how, even early on, Sudeikis hinted that there was more to come.
“It was this conversation I had with Jason Sudeikis after we shot scene two in the press room, and we just chatted in the parking lot,” Lance recalled. “I told him, ‘This is why I think Trent is the way he is. I think he grew up with a difficult dad.’ Then Jason said to me, ‘Well, you know, this series is about bad dads?’ We just had this little chat.” And I say I don’t think Trent is living the life he wants to live. That lasted about three minutes. On reflection, it changed the course of my life and my life and Trent’s is definitely generous.”
Lance says he later received a text from Sudeikis, adding that Trent would still be around in season two — but his real breakthrough would be in season three. After reading that, Lance said, “The truth is, I cried. And I said to my wife, ‘Read this.’ And I read it and I burst into tears. But we didn’t know much more than that. All we knew were there were plans for Trent Karim, which means there were plans for me as an actor.” .
For a while he didn’t figure out what that meant. In fact, Trent Crimm has left The Independent – giving the character a new sense of purpose and freedom. “All of this is the actor’s ultimate pitch,” says Lance. Not a bad run for Trent Karim, The Independent, and James Lance, the series regular.
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