VIDEO: ‘Ted Lasso’ Production Design Nominees Paul Cripps and Kate Goodman Reveal How They Dropped Hints for Rebecca’s Mystery Man in “Sunflowers”

Awards Daily talks to the Emmy-nominated production design team at Ted Lasso about the Amsterdam-set episode, “Sunflowers.”

There’s a lot going on in the Ted Lasso Season 3 episode “Sunflowers.” Rebecca meets a mystery man. Ted discovers a new game strategy. Roy learns how to ride a bike. Naturally, with so many new settings and themes, that brought about challenges for production designer Paul Cripps and set decorator Kate Goodman.

“Outdoor scenes are always challenging,” says Goodman. “But that’s usually just onlookers and crowds as a starting point.”

“We couldn’t shoot everything in Amsterdam,” says Cripps, “so some of the interiors were done in London. […] That was a bit of a challenge to make sure it all matched the exteriors, especially the houseboat set that we built back in London.”

The houseboat where Rebecca spends time with her mystery man embodies the Dutch word for cozy, “gezellig.” In fact, the interiors really are the only clues about who this person is (Rebecca never even learns his name in this episode).

“It was always an important thing to Jason [Sudeikis] that when Rebecca is there on her own, that we give a few clues as to who he is,” says Cripps. “If you’ve watched Episode 12 and you go back and watch Episode 6 again, you’ll see some of the clues.”

“There are all those subtle little things that you’ll notice, from posters to lights to ornaments on the walls. We tried to bring in lots of nice little elements to drop little hints,” adds Goodman.

I had a nice chat with Cripps and Goodman about their work on this Emmy-nominated episode, including how they visually supported Colin’s coming-out to Trent, the surreal “American” restaurant Ted visits, and what it’s like to say goodbye to the show after three seasons. Watch the interview below!