Actually, Roy and Keeley Should Have Ended Up Together

The Big Picture

• The season finale of Ted Lasso wraps up multiple storylines, including AFC Richmond’s victory, the departure of the team’s owner, and Ted leaving to be with his son.
• While most characters get a happy ending, fans are disappointed that Roy and Keeley don’t reunite, despite their growth throughout the season.
• The creators explain that Keeley chooses to be independent and prioritize herself, but viewers still hope for a future reunion between Roy and Keeley.

The third season finale of Apple TV+’s Ted Lasso saw a lot of storylines wrapped up. AFC Richmond beats their bitter rivals, West Ham United, and finish in second place in the Premier League. West Ham’s dastardly owner, Rupert Mannion (Anthony Head), is forced out. His ex-wife and AFC Richmond owner, Rebecca Welton (Hannah Waddingham), sells 49% of the team to the fans. Jamie Tartt (Phil Dunster) also makes up with his father. The biggest shock saw Ted Lasso (Jason Sudeikis) himself leaving AFC Richmond to go back home to the United States and be with his son. Roy Kent (Brett Goldstein) is made the new manager. Nate Shelley (Nick Mohammed) is back on the team, and Coach Beard (Brendan Hunt), unable to leave his bizarre relationship, stays behind.

Almost everyone got a happy ending, but what fans of Ted Lasso looked forward to the most, the reunion of Roy Kent and Keeley Jones (Juno Temple), didn’t happen. The episode, and later, its creators in interviews, thoroughly explained why they couldn’t be, but come on, why can’t we have what we want?! Sure, it’s been months since the series ended, but we still aren’t over it! Roy and Keeley were destined to be together forever!

Roy and Jamie Literally Fight Over Keeley Jones in the ‘Ted Lasso’ Finale

Perhaps the best part of the third season of Ted Lasso was the growth of Roy Kent. The perpetually grumpy player-turned-coach sure had a lot of it to do. Just when he had it all with Keeley, he broke up with her because loving her required too much from him when he wasn’t ready to be that vulnerable. It was a decision he quickly regretted. Roy spends the season becoming a better man, one who cares about other people. He opens up to Ted and the other coaches about his relationship problems and takes his long-time enemy Jamie under his wing. By the end of the year, Roy is part of the Diamond Dogs male support group, he’s hugging Jamie, and he talks to Keeley about the mistakes he’s made. She is taken aback by his words, and it seems as if she’s taken Roy back, as the two are later shown having been in bed together. Perhaps they’re not official, but everything is looking good.

Things come to a head when Roy tells Jamie, Keeley’s ex-boyfriend before him, that they hooked up and are on the verge of getting back together. Jamie wants Keeley back too, however, so the two have a literal physical fight over her. It ends with the two at Keeley’s door. Neither one of them beat the other, so they come up with the not-so-great plan to just go to Keeley’s house and have her pick which one of them she wants to be with. What could go wrong?

We want Roy and Keeley to be together, but not like this. Roy isn’t being smart. This is not the way to win her over. There can’t be any heartwarming scene at this moment of her going to Roy and kicking Jamie out. That wouldn’t feel right. Roy isn’t deserving her right now. So we can’t be mad when Keeley looks at both men and says that she chooses to be with neither one of them. They brought it on themselves.

Why Didn’t Keeley Choose To Be With Roy?

Maybe it was the right decision right then, but Ted Lasso should have had one more scene where Roy, alone, goes to Keeley, and apologizes for not putting her first. Having seen that Roy really can grow, Keeley chooses him, the two kiss, and live happily ever after. We didn’t get that. As Ted Lasso faded to black, perhaps forever, Roy and Keeley were still broken up.

Brendan Hunt, Ted Lasso co-creator, writer, and the man behind Coach Beard, spoke about the Roy and Keeley relationship during an Ask Me Anything session on Reddit. He said:

“As for Roy and Keeley, I have known couples who seemed perfect together, and then suddenly find they broke up. People who haven’t (at least started to) work on their sh*t can sometimes find that they lose something they wish they’d kept. In this way, Roy’s story with Keeley is parallel to Nate’s with AFC Richmond. IMO, IMO.”

Keeley herself, Juno Temple, went into greater detail in an interview with Deadline. She commented on how Roy and Jamie were destined to fight, but that it’s okay, because the two are becoming best friends and need each other. She also revealed why Keeley didn’t pick Roy or Jamie:

“I think she chooses to be the independent woman that she needs to be so that she can really listen to her heart and allow that to be her guide when she feels she’s stable and unstable in her workspace and in her thought space… She needs her heart. I think that’s where people fall in love with her as well. I fell in love with her. I think that that triangle is also an incredible support system that actually, hopefully, they’ll all be in each other’s lives forever.”

Temple has a point for sure. From day one, we’ve almost always seen Keeley’s life ruled by a relationship. First, there was her relationship with Jamie, where he made it all about his wants and needs, and not hers. Her relationship was Roy was ideal until he ran because he hadn’t done enough growing to be ready for it. After Roy came her boss at her PR firm, Jack (Jodi Balfour), a woman who seemed like a good fit for Keeley at first, but who then bailed the moment Keeley’s nude video leaked. She’s earned time for herself, to work on herself, with her own business getting stronger and now talking to Rebecca about starting an all-women’s football team. If men want to be childish and fight over her, that’s their problem.

‘Ted Lasso’ Should Have Ended With Roy and Keeley Together

Despite the valid reasoning made by Juno Temple, still, couldn’t we have had Roy and Keeley together anyway? Keeley has grown and become an independent woman, and Roy has done his own growing. He’s used to being alone and not letting anyone in. He’s always been independent. He now needs people in his life. He needs Jamie. And he really needs Keeley. That’s not a bad thing, as if he’s needy and desperate. It’s more of him accepting that life is better when lived with others. Despite his mistakes, he has put in the work to earn her back.

That’s what Ted Lasso has been leading us to all season, Roy growing for others, not himself, so why have the series end with him still by himself? Keeley is used to being treated like dirt in a relationship. Why deny her having everything she’s ever wanted from another person in Roy, who has put in the work to be a better person, not just to impress her, but truly so he could be a kinder, happier person around everyone? Keeley seemed like she was certain to take him back. The look on her face around him said it all. Then Roy and Jamie fight, and she decides not to pick him. Was she always going to reject him and this made it easier, or did the fight change her mind?

The ideal way to end Ted Lasso would have had Roy and Keeley both becoming the individuals they needed to be while also finding each other. Alas, everyone pulling for them was left disappointed. Still, there’s hope. The final shot of Roy, Keeley, and Jamie shows them all sitting together laughing. Roy and Jamie aren’t off somewhere sulking. They’ve accepted their fate. Maybe Roy has accepted it because he knows that there’s still hope. He isn’t done growing. He’ll keep trying, and maybe one day, he and Keeley will be ready for each other. There’s been talk of a possible Ted Lasso spinoff. How about one centered around the new AFC Richmond manager, Roy Kent, with him learning how to lead a team, while also showing him in pursuit of the woman of his dreams? To quote Ted Lasso in one of his memorable Lassoisms, “As the man once said, the harder you work, the luckier you get.”

Ted Lasso is available to stream on Apple TV+.

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