How Phil Dunster Went from Foe to Fan Favorite in 'Ted Lasso'

Say what you will about the third (and presumably final season) of Ted Lasso, but one thing that is undebatable is that Jamie Tartt walks away as an MVP.

While Tartt started out as your stereotypical, egotistic midfielder who fans of the show spent the first season hating on, he quickly became a fan favorite on the Apple TV+ series that is known for its abundance of lovable characters. But ask Phil Dunster, the 31-year-old actor who portrays Tartt about his feelings about the role and you’ll hear that he’s “loved [Jamie] from the very first time he met him.”

“I don't know anybody like him in my personal life,” Dunster tells Bazaar.com on Zoom, throwing in a mock thank God and continuing with “not just that he's a professional footballer, but he's someone who's totally conceited and selfish. His personality traits are very direct, very honest, and he's fucking hard-working. I’ve always liked him.”

That’s not to say Dunster is the only one. His romantic relationship with Keely (Juno Temple), though ending in season one, remains amicable and she continues to root for him, just like AFC Richmond coach Ted Lasso (Jason Sudeikis), who had every reason to turn his back on Tartt after he initially left the team for Manchester City. In fact, the people who continue to care for Tartt after his first-season antics were the main reason he matured into the season three version we’re left with, especially as we learn about his strained relationship with his alcoholic father, which accumulates to a heated punch in the later half of season 2.

Jamie Tartt's final form is some of the best character growth and humor we’ve seen on screen. After turning to past-foe-turned-trainer-turned bestie Roy Kent (Brett Goldstein), Tartt continues to dominate on the field while simultaneously becoming a better teammate and a more emotionally connected friend and son, giving an award-worthy performance in the eleventh episode of this season and even reconciling with his father during this week's finale.

Below, Dunster talks about the journey of Jamie Tartt, how the writers managed to get that word in the series, and what’s next for the British actor.

When you first met Jamie, what was your first impression?

He has always been someone that I have loved for many different reasons. At the start, he was this challenge and sort of enigma because I don't really know anybody like him in my personal life. But I've always liked him because he has elements to him, his personality traits, that are very direct, very honest and he's fucking hard working. Even though his agreeable levels are down through the floor in season one, we learn that he is dealing with a difficult past and some trauma as well, and through the journey, you really see why his traits are the way that they are. When we get to season three, we see him, having consciously learned about what those traits are, making a decision to use those traits for good: his directness in apologizing, and his selfishness turn to self-awareness. I mean, he still makes mistakes, he’s still an idiot, he's just a lovable idiot now.

When you started with Jamie in season 1, did you know where he was going to go? Did the writers tell you like, right now, he's gonna kind of be an asshole but it's gonna evolve or were you just prepared for anything?

It wasn't so much that it was under wraps, but it was more like this is where he's at now, this is maybe where he'll go and I think that that's one of the joys for me. It's like you're running through the dark with your eyes closed and it's thrilling but also terrifying. But Jason and Joe Kelly and Brendan Hunt, who are the creatives and the brilliant writers on it, were always good at dropping some sort of bread crumbs along the way to sort of guide you in the right direction.

Was there a more fun version of Jamie to play?

The boring answer is that I've loved them all for different reasons. But this guy, season three Jamie is fun because he’s kind of the final form Super Jamie and I feel like I knew him a lot better. The wheels are in the grooves a lot deeper so it feels like you have real traction when you make a decision. He still has all those bits of personality traits, but now they're all pushing in the same direction.

Luke Varley

Was Jamie a fully fleshed-out character when you got him or did you feel like there were things that you added and were able to play with?

Definitely, all of his swagger, his levels of coolness, his ability to be a primitive footballer, that was all me. [laughs] I don’t know. I think the bits at the start of Jamie are quite far away from me. He's a very direct person and that's something that I can struggle with at times and I think a lot of people do. That’s one of the reasons he stands out in that group is because he has such self-belief, self-determination, and a defined personality.

What about the accent? How did that come about?

Basically, they wanted someone who just didn't sound like me. They did a very wide search and originally thought that he might be Hispanic and I auditioned for it once in a Spanish accent and they were like… for many reasons, no. But I watch a lot of football and I know that a lot of footballers are from Manchester, which is where Jamie is from. It's called Mancunian, which is the official phrase, and basically, it’s based on my agent because Jamie is a sassbot and my agent is a sassbot — a lovely, lovely sassbot — who when she gets angry, the Mancunian comes out. There's a sort of muscularity to the language, your shoulders get into it a little bit, and there's a credulousness to the accent when they get irate and annoyed and it's energetic and fun to play with.

I’m assuming the whole cast were already somewhat fans of football?

I play it lots, never professionally or anywhere near that, but I watch it probably every day in some form. The friendship that I have with my closest mates is 95% football chat, so it's something that I am very familiar with and it was the same for all of the guys on the team. We really cared about making it look good and it's really hard to make football look good, but we stayed out there for a long time. The camaraderie around trying to get it right was really strong.

If AFC Richmond were to play a professional team now, how bad would it be?

We'd be spanked.

Phil Dunster and Brett Goldstein in Ted Lasso’s final season.

At least it’d look good, that’s half the battle. Talk to me about Roy and Jamie’s friendship this season. What was it like to develop and portray it?

I liked it very much because I love Brett so much. By far and away, the most joy that I had was working with him, particularly in Amsterdam, and with the stuff that comes up in episode 11. As for the actor in me, their friendship serves as these touchstones to see the barometer for Jamie’s progression, and how you see moments where in season one or even season two, he would react in one way and then in season three, he chooses to react a different way in scenarios that are very similar to one another. In season one, there’s that “call me Grandad one more time” moment and a big fight, and in season two Roy refuses to coach Jamie and then now, rather than punch him or hate him, he's starting to get a grip on communicating and he's literally trying to hug Roy when he thinks he feels sad. I have emotionally verbalized relationships with some of the men in my life and that's really important to me, so that bit has been lovely to be able to put on screen and show that it is possible, even with those guys.

It's so emotionally healing but also so fun to watch. When Jamie gave Roy the jersey that spelled his last name Kent as K-U-N-T, everyone on Twitter was so upset they hadn’t thought of that themselves.

[Chuckles] That was the only way that the writing team and Brett were able to get that word in.

Ted Lasso has kept you busy, but you worked on a short called Pragma as both an actor and a producer, and I heard you’re moving into directing soon. What can you tell me about that?

Pragma really taught me that it's not just about getting the lines on paper and being a mouthpiece for the story. You can tell stories by who you bring onto a project, or the frames you use, which is all really basic but it was that realization that there's a language that you can speak and you don't have to have gone through a formal education that I really jazzed with. It's about being at the helm of a project where you meet someone who is in a different department and has responded to the film in a certain way and impacts the film. So I had written one scene of a script and started to expand it into the film that I will be directing; the exciting thing is finding new ways to skin a cat and the cat is storytelling.

This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.

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Brooke LaMantia is an NYC-based culture and fashion freelance writer whose work has appeared in The Cut, Cosmopolitan, W Magazine, InStyle, NYLON, and more.

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