‘Ted Lasso’ star Hannah Waddingham will host a musical holiday special on Apple TV+

While it looks like the current season will be the last one for Ted Lasso in its current form (that’s still not officially confirmed, but many involved have been hinting at it), there’s been lots of discussion of potential spinoffs. Even if the spinoffs don’t wind up coming to fruition, though, the series has done a lot to raise the U.S. profile of many involved, including Hannah Waddingham (who plays AFC Richmond owner Rebecca Welton). Waddingham’s singing talents have come up in the show, and they’ve been shown off before in her long stage career in both the West End and on Broadway, and that’s led to her hosting the Eurovision Song Contest this May. And this week, Apple TV+ announced that they’ll air a musical holiday special hosted by Waddingham (seen above winning the Emmy for best supporting actress in a comedy series in 2021 for her work in the first season of Ted Lasso) this winter:

#TedLasso star Hannah Waddingham is set to star in the new Apple Original musical holiday special 'Hannah Waddingham: Home for Christmas' premiering later this year https://t.co/i15Ng7U4vo

— Deadline Hollywood (@DEADLINE) April 20, 2023

Here’s more on that from that Deadline piece, by Rosy Cordero:

Hannah Waddingham: Home for Christmas will be recorded live in front of an audience at the London Coliseum and will feature performances and musical numbers from the Emmy Award winner and her Big band as well as surprise guests.

The holiday special will be directed by BAFTA Award-winner Hamish Hamilton and executive produced by Waddingham, Katy Mullan, Moira Ross, Raj Kapoor and Nick Todisco.

Waddingham is currently starring in the third season of the highly acclaimed comedy Ted Lasso in the role of Rebecca Welton. Next, she will be co-host of the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest. Additional upcoming projects include Masterpiece & ITV’s miniseries Tom Jones, Fox’s animated series Krapopolis, the new animated adaptation of Garfield, and feature films The Fall Guy and Mission: Impossible 8. Credits include Hocus Pocus 2, Sex Education and Game of Thrones.

This adds to a lot of musical content on Apple TV+, including musical comedy series Schmigadoon, last year’s Mariah Carey’s Magical Christmas Special (also produced by Done+Dusted, the company behind Waddingham’s special), and last year’s Spirited movie with Will Ferrell and Ryan Reynolds. And it’s probably not the last thing we’ll see on Apple TV+ involving prominent figures from Ted Lasso.

[Deadline; photo from Robert Hanashiro/USA Today]