As we await Ted Lasso season 4, Netflix has a gem of a movie that shows the more serious side of Jason Sudeikis

When the season three finale of Apple TV Plus’s Ted Lasso drew to a close about two years ago, it looked like the end for the show.

But many of its squillions of fans clung on to the genial football coach’s “believe” mantra and got their wish. Ted Lasso season 4 is on the way, yet although Jason Sudeikis is so closely associated with his moustachioed alter ego, his acting resume indicates it might not be too hard for him to leave the character behind when he finally waves us goodbye.

And one of his movies over on Netflix shows just how easy that could be.

It was still comparatively early days for original Netflix movies when Kodachrome was released. 2017 had produced titles including Dee Rees’ Mudbound, Noah Baumbach’s The Meyerowitz Stories and Bong Joon Ho’s Okja and the streamer was getting into its movie-making stride.

Kodachrome takes us on a road well-travelled. It’s essentially a road trip movie, one with an elderly father and a middle aged son as reluctant companions, trying to cope with the pressures of aging and their difficult relationship. Ben (Ed Harris) used to be a photographer, talented, famous and fond of living on the wild side, while his record executive son Matt (Sudeikis, swapping the tache for stubble) is facing the prospect of being fired from his label.

Things between them are all the more strained because of Ben’s terminal cancer diagnosis. They decide to drive to the last photo lab in America, which still processes Kodachrome because he’s discovered a handful of film spools which are, essentially, his last work. The idea is that he can put on a final exhibition, but the lab is located in Kansas and is just a few days from shutting down for good.

Kodachrome | Official Trailer [HD] | Netflix - YouTube

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With a cast that also includes Elizabeth Olsen and Dennis Haysbert, the acting is very much to the fore. There’s little room for sentiment between father and son as the distance between them starts to narrow, and a lovelorn Sudeikis gives our heartstrings a gentle tug as he finds the possibility of a brighter future with his father’s nurse (Olsen). Despite the echoes of its predecessor, Alexander Payne’s Nebraska (2013), it’s a movie that very much stands up on its own and is given an unexpectedly contemporary feel thanks to Ben’s enduring love of analogue.

Meanwhile, Ted Lasso fans will need to be patient for a while longer. No date has been confirmed for the start of filming, but a drip feed of hints points towards the summer — July seems most likely — so Richmond’s cobbled side streets will be at their most picturesque. If that works out, the show could be back on our screens as early as this time next year.

And when season four was finally announced, Sudeikis himself teased that the story would follow a women’s soccer team. He wasn’t giving away anything else, so whether he was talking about the proposed AFC Richmond Women’s Team or one in the USA, with Ted returning home to coach them, remains to be seen. And, of course, the original storylines don’t necessarily have to be abandoned: AFC Richmond’s quest for European football glory could, for instance, be a subplot.

A final announcement on the cast is also due, although Sudeikis has already confirmed he’ll be back as everybody’s favourite goofy coach and Juno Temple is currently in talks to return as Keeley. Show favorites Brett Goldstein, Hannah Waddingham, Brendan Hunt, Nick Mohammed, Jeremy Swift and James Lance are all expected to be back for this much-anticipated season. But it has an extra challenge ahead. Until earlier this year, the Emmy winner had been the jewel in Apple TV Plus’s crown, as the most-watched original show on the streaming service.

That was until this year’s launch of season two of Severance. Its premiere claimed the number one slot, which means the pressure will be on for Ted Lasso to play catch-up.

The show’s fans will be rooting for it to take back the top slot. And, as before, they’ll be following Ted’s advice. “Believe.”

Kodachrome is currently on Netflix in the US and the UK.

All three seasons of Ted Lasso are on Apple TV Plus in the US and the UK.