Apple TV+ hitTed Lasso is finally back on our screens – although fans will have noticed that a number of its stars haven’t returned for the new series.

The comedy-drama’s fourth season sees Jason Sudeikis’ endlessly optimistic football coach return to the UK to lead Richmond’s Women’s Football Club with the help of Roy Kent (Brett Goldstein), owner Rebecca Welton (Hannah Waddingham), coach Willis Beard (Brendan Hunt) and Keeley Jones (Juno Temple).

However, with the series’ new focus being the women’s team, the likes of Phil Dunster – who played midfielder Jamie Tartt – as well as Toheeb Jimoh, Kola Bokinni, Cristo Fernández and other stars who played footballers have not reprised their roles.

Now, actor and co-showrunner Hunt has shed more light on why they weren’t invited back.

In an interview with Variety, Hunt said that Dunster couldn’t make filming work with his schedule, adding that it also would not have made narrative sense for the Richmond FC Men’s team to still be kicking about. Dunster currently stars in Steve Carrell comedy Rooster, another show from Ted Lasso creator Bill Lawrence.

“Phil was going to be busy, but also, it would have strained credulity a bit further than we wanted to if all the old team were still on Richmond,” Hunt said.

“If this team is doing so well, then the best players would be gone. They’d be bought by bigger clubs.”

Hunt also revealed that it took Sudeikis a while to consider whether Ted Lasso should come back after season three, which he previously had said was its final outing.

“There would be one sort of baby-step text message of intrigue, like every three months,” he said. “I never got my hopes up. I really wanted to do it, but I wanted him to want to do it. I didn’t want to be among the people who were pushing him or pressuring him. So I never brought it up.

“Anytime he brought it up, I’d be like, ‘Sounds good,’ and then wait and see if it ever came up again. When, finally, I got the word of, ‘It’s happening, we’re going to do that women’s team thing that I’ve been thinking about,’ it was like ‘Great! Now I can get on with my life! Let’s go!’”

Sudeikis previously spoke about having to tell the former Ted Lasso stars that he had written them out of the show, revealing last month that he had “very difficult” individual phone calls with them.

“Because I didn’t want them to hear it on the internet,” the Saturday Night Live alum told the outlet. “And because I love those guys and we all went through something together.”

However, the show appeared to pay tribute to its old cast in the series four premiere, with Ted looking at a wall of AFC Richmond memorabilia, which include a picture of the entire men’s team and a photo of former assistant coach-turned-viral-West Ham United coach Nathan Shelley (played by Nick Mohammed) jumping into Ted’s arms. The scene also includes a newspaper clipping announcing Jamie Tartt’s departure from the team, written by fictional The Independent journalist Trent Crimm (James Lance).