Ted Lasso's Toheeb Jimoh believes in believe—and that his character Sam is the perfect suitor for Rebecca (Hannah Waddingham).
The Aug. 27 episode left fans stunned after it was revealed that Sam was the nameless, faceless gentleman that Rebecca was talking to on the dating app Bantr. And, as Jimoh revealed in an exclusive chat with E! News, he too was surprised by the romantic storyline.
"I was very excited about it," he said of learning his season two arc. "But, to be honest, from like season one, I hadn't really caught on to the whole Sam and Rebecca chemistry stuff."
Although Jimoh assumed Sam and Rebecca would always just be platonic friends, he was pleasantly surprised by this pivot. "I was excited on Sam's behalf, but also I was so excited on my behalf, 'cause I was like, I just get to do more scenes with Hannah, which is great," he continued. "I also knew like this was gonna send the Ted Lasso fans into a spiral."
It's safe to call the reaction to Sam and Rebecca's flirtation mixed, with some on social media dubbing the pairing "forced." Yet, Jimoh wasn't fazed by this response—in fact, he said the whole situation was "super exciting."
"Regardless of how you feel, if this is something that's significant enough for you to have an opinion on it, then like, that's good," he shared. "It's not necessarily our job always to please people. Like, our job is to kinda like, stir the pot."
Even though we'll have to wait for new episodes to see how this whole potential romance plays out, Jimoh teased that what's to come for the rest of the season may just win people over to this unexpected duo. On why Sam is likely a good fit for the AFC Richmond boss, Jimoh defended that the soccer player is one of the only people Rebecca can be herself around.
"Rebecca is a character who had a lot of...tough times with men in the past, and like, a lot of the men that she's been with haven't made her feel great," he reflected. "So I think Sam is the complete polar opposite of that. In that, you know like, he's just somebody who makes her feel good, he makes her happy. He makes her feel like she can drop her guard, even though she doesn't want to at times, and I think that's the most important thing for her."
New episodes of Ted Lasso arrive Fridays on Apple TV+.