Ted Lasso has now spent more than a year in his position as manager for AFC Richmond, a coaching stint marked by the humoristic approach the writing team has had so many Americans intrigued by the Premier League’s constant battle for relegation and promotion, but also by Roy Kent’s FIFA-like appearance.
After bagging a bunch of Emmy wins this past weekend that will only boost viewership for the Apple TV exclusive, even more memes have started popping up questioning if actor Brett Goldstein is indeed a real person or just the latest example of bleeding-edge CGI graphics. So where does this hilarious conspiracy theory come from? Well, it’s hard to trace, but for the most part, people who jumped on the Ted Lasso train since the show’s premiere have always been struck by Goldstein’s video game looks.
It really doesn’t take too long for this effect to take over viewers’ minds as the pilot episode features the introduction of club captain and former Chelsea star Roy Kent, and from the first moment he and Ted meet in the club’s locker room and in his office, Goldstein looks decidedly “video gamey” to say the least. Merely by glancing over the Ted Lasso subreddit from a year ago, one will find many posts and jokes about Roy Kent.
What is it about Goldstein that has fans thinking that this very real man is just the product of the world's most accomplished deepfake since that fan-made Mark Hamill for Lucasfilm and Disney? While it’s not the entire story behind it, it seems that -despite constantly changing directors- the camera equipment and lighting chosen for Ted Lasso, plus Apple TV’s penchant for pristine quality high definition content can end up making everyone look utterly unreal, like Unreal Engine 5 game unreal.
Yet, for some reason Goldstein's combination of just the right facial features, his acting, mannerisms, movement, chiseled jawline, and perfectly defined beard make him stand out more than anyone else. Again, Brett Goldstein is very much a real flesh and bone person (just not the kind that can be signed in FIFA Ultimate), so much so that the actor was recently forced to clarify that he is indeed a real human that does "normal, human, basic things like rendering and buffering and transferring data.", so nothing to see here, right?
For anyone doubting the veracity of this video posted on the actor’s official Instagram account, Goldstein has appeared on several instances of live television, including a recent visit to Jimmy Kimmel Live where he again addressed the persistent CGI conspiracy theories that even have the actor himself doubting of whether he’s part of a Matrix simulation or not.
Even Kimmel admits the CGI memes were what got him into watching Ted Lasso for the first time, although Goldstein did ace the host’s chocolate milk test. In any case, it doesn’t get any more real than Goldstein speaking about his role in Ted Lasso as a soccer football player being the opportunity to finally make his father proud of having a son who won the UEFA Champions League.
Perhaps the less fun albeit more sensitive explanation behind the Roy Kent CGI rumors is that Goldstein really did manage to write his full personality as part of the character, considering he was only cast in Ted Lasso after being hired as a writer for the series and suddenly realizing he was injecting his own persona into Kent, including his love for swearing every time he gets the chance. That gamble definitely paid off as Goldstein's performance in the series secured him and co-star Jason Sudeikis the Emmys for Best Supporting Actor and Best Actor in the comedy segment, respectively, a moment that was again memed into the CGI meta.
For now, Goldstein has quelled most theories pointing to him being no more than the latest tech showcase to come out of Apple's Cupertino headquarters, nevertheless, Roy Kent looks to be on a pop culture path to emulate other fictional football players like Goal's Santiago Muñez or FIFA's Alex Hunter from the franchise's scrapped Journey mode. As Ted Lasso moves forward with its second season, it bears saying that AFC Richmond is a made-up football team, although the club does borrow certain things like its colors and location from the Premiership's Crystal Palace, the team that lets Ted Lasso use its Selhurst Park stadium for filming purposes.
The same goes for Roy Kent, who is definitely not related to Roy Keane, whereas Ted Lasso himself is partly based on the real-life events and antics of former NFL player Terry Smith, who owned and coached the defunct Chester City in the lower tiers of English football in between 1999 and 2001. It appears Ted Lasso will continue to drive interest in football in the United States, which makes Ryan Reynolds' Wrexham AFC purchase increasingly look like a smart business decision, though it's a shame the Welcome To Wrexham's FX ownership makes a Roy Dent and Wrexham crossover seem impossible at the moment.
Ted Lasso is currently available on Apple TV+, with new episodes premiering each Friday.