Interview: Sarah Niles on Joining the Cast of ‘Ted Lasso’ and Getting Serious with Jason Sudeikis

The cast of the Apple TV+ megahit Ted Lasso mostly stayed the same between seasons one and two, with one notable addition: Sarah Niles as Dr. Sharon Fieldstone. When Sharon arrives to be the new psychologist for AFC Richmond, her stoic style and desire to always get to the point results in her clashing with Ted’s leadership approach, but they eventually become close and very helpful to each other.

Awards Radar had the chance to speak with the Emmy-nominated Niles about joining a show already in progress and what it was like to work with the cast, as well as her work on I May Destroy You and her upcoming projects. On whether the show is big in the UK, Niles recalled:

“People started saying to me, have you been watching this? And I had no idea. I’m just playing catch-up in the middle of a pandemic. I probably wasn’t watching as many shows as I should have been. Over time, especially with season two, so many people are fans. The thing is, I was in Paris and people were talking about it, Italy, of course America, but you find it all over, and such a different range of audience members or fans. Yeah, it’s wild.”

On Sharon being a dramatic part:

“I felt like she’s a lot straighter. And I felt like some of the straighter side of her, I find funny as well, actually. There’s one scene where the actor Billy Harris is saying, I’m a strong and capable man, I’m not a piece of shit, and she says, you don’t need that last part. I love the way that she says it with a straight face. I find that side of her quite funny. It’s quite fun to play a part up against a character like Ted who’s really jolly and always wisecracks, and just to get that no response and seeing how he unravels from that. It’s good, it’s fun.”

Listen to the full conversation below:

The first two seasons of Ted Lasso are streaming on Apple TV+.