Juno Temple’s Natural Hilarity Led Ted Lasso’s Brett Goldstein To Change Keeley – Looper

On February 14, 2022, Marie Claire ran a lengthy profile on Juno Temple, then hot off the success of Season 2 of “Ted Lasso.” In the profile, it was revealed that Temple had the part of Keeley offered to her directly by longtime friend Jason Sudeikis and that she was initially surprised because she wasn’t historically known for her comedic work. But the writers quickly caught on to how much potential the storied dramatic thespian of films like “Atonement” and “Far from the Madding Crowd” had as a comedian.

One of those writers was Brett Goldstein, who pulls double duty on “Ted Lasso” as an actor, in the back-to-back Emmy-winning role of Roy Kent. Goldstein told Marie Claire that he, along with the rest of the writers’ room, was fascinated by the liveliness, sweetness, and wit that Temple effortlessly brought to Keeley. “[Juno’s] the f***ing light. I don’t know how else to express it,” Goldstein said, comparing her natural likability to that of someone like Tom Hanks.

Once made aware of that asset, the writers of “Ted Lasso” were inspired to make Keeley’s lines longer and funnier in order to make better use of Temple’s skill set. “We didn’t change the story of Keeley, but how she spoke and how she was funny changed, because Juno was much funnier than what we’d written for Keeley,” Goldstein said. The rest is history — it’s impossible to imagine “Ted Lasso” without Keeley’s perky humor.