Hannah Waddingham talks hopes for 'Ted Lasso' spinoff

Waddingham also discussed joining the "Mission: Impossible" film franchise.

December 19, 2023, 11:01 AM

Hannah Waddingham knows you miss "Ted Lasso" -- so does she.

The Emmy-winning actress joined "Good Morning America" on Tuesday to discuss her holiday special on Apple TV+ and reacted to hopes for a spinoff of the soccer-centric series focused on her and co-star Juno Temple's characters, besties Rebecca Welton and Keeley Jones.

"If I told you that, I'd have to kill you," Waddingham replied in her best Rebecca voice.

"Actually, in all seriousness, I don't know. I would love there to be a world in which we can dip in and out and see them over time," she said. "If you guys are mourning 'Ted Lasso,' trust me the cast are mourning it more."

PHOTO: Juno Temple and Hannah Waddingham in "Ted Lasso," now streaming on Apple TV+.
Juno Temple and Hannah Waddingham in "Ted Lasso," now streaming on Apple TV+.
Apple TV+

Luckily, the cast is everywhere these days since the series ended in May, and they seem to quite enjoy each other's company. Just last month, Waddingham teamed up with co-star Jason Sudeikis -- Ted Lasso himself -- for a viral duet of "Shallow" at a charity event.

Waddingham told "GMA" the moment was "actually an accident" and a last-minute change after they realized the song they were originally going to sing wasn't going to work, saying, "It was too low for me, too high for him."

Despite realizing this just days before the event and taking to the stage with little-to-no rehearsal, the duo wowed the crowd.

The duo performed at THUNDERGONG!, a benefit concert hosted by Sudeikis to fundraise for the nonprofit Steps of Faith. The actor and his guests raised over $800,000 at the seventh annual event.
The duo performed at THUNDERGONG!, a benefit concert hosted by Sudeikis to fundraise for the nonprofit Steps of Faith. The actor and his guests raised over $800,000 at the seventh annual event.

Waddingham is currently busy teaming up with Tom Cruise for the the forthcoming eighth "Mission: Impossible" film, teasing that filming has been a "really lovely" experience thus far.

"He is one of the most extraordinary people I have ever met, and I was very struck by him," she added of Cruise. "If people are nervous around him, he will make a beeline and make them feel totally supported. Seeing somebody maneuver themselves like that was really quite something and really inspiring."

Waddingham said they've got more to shoot but that "to be dropped into that world was literally just insane."

For now, fans can watch the West End star delivering holiday cheer in "Hannah Waddingham: Home for Christmas." It was filmed at the London Coliseum where, as an 8-year-old, she watched her mother perform as an opera singer. Now her own daughter, also 8, is watching her on the very same stage.

For Waddingham, the experience was a full-circle moment. Or, as she put it, "It was the weirdest kind of serendipity."

Hannah Waddingham's holiday special, "Hannah Waddingham: Home for Christmas," is now streaming on Apple TV+.