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Theo Park Talks the Casting Process for ‘Ted Lasso,’ Amazon’s ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power’


January 18, 2024

Casting director Theo Park won an Emmy and Artios award for casting Season One of Apple TV+’s comedy Ted Lasso. She was subsequently nominated again for Season Two and Three, capping off a series run that has been consistently recognized for its performances.

The actors from the show, including Jason Sudeikis, Brett Goldstein and Hannah Waddingham are heading into the SAG Awards on February 24 with individual acting nominations while the show itself is nominated in the Ensemble Comedy Series – a testament to Park’s eye for talent.

Park spoke to Casting Networks about casting Ted Lasso through the seasons, working on Amazon Prime Video’s series The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power and how actors can prepare for auditions when little information is given about the project or the characters.

How did you first come on to the project?

Jason Sudeikis (Ted Lasso co-creator, executive producer and star) reached out to Allison Jones, a fabulous casting director based in Los Angeles and a friend of mine. He said, ‘If I was casting a show out of London, who would I use?’ She suggested me. I’m forever grateful he listened to her.

What was the first order of business when he hired you?

I read the pilot and we identified who the regulars were. The most important person (to be cast) was the character of Rebecca Welton. They got me on early to start looking for her. We went through lists and ideas. There was studio preference to cast a name actress who would be known to American audiences, so we spent a lot of time going through those names with the creatives at Warner Brothers Television.

What happened?

Some of those names passed. We sent the script, and they passed. After that, we were able to start meeting people for the role. Jason was in Los Angeles the whole time, but he came over to London for one day and we met a few actors for the part; but nobody really hit it.

So, Jason goes back to LA. What do you do?

Then Hannah Waddingham walked into the room and that was it. This often happens in casting, where no one quite hits it, but you have to do a big troll to get there. We saw so many people and we talked about so many names. It wasn’t until Hannah came in that it was like, “ah, okay.” We flew her out to L.A. to meet Jason and they had a chemistry session. Finding Rebecca was a long process, but we got there in the end. Once that was done, we dug into the other regulars, like the footballers and the people at the club.

What was the biggest challenge in casting the show?

It’s always challenging when you’re only given a pilot script and you are only working off conversations. I was having phone conversations with Jason and he’d talk to me about the characters, but it wasn’t entirely clear. It never is at the start. That’s why you’ve got to throw yourself into it and bring in as many different types as possible at the beginning so that the creatives can go, “Oh, yeah.”

For example, for the role of Higgins, we saw lots of different types. Nick Mohamed originally came in for Higgins, as did Jeremy Swift. But it was unanimous and immediate when Jeremy Swift did the tape that it was him. But you don’t know until that person comes in.

You won your first Emmy for casting Season One of Ted Lasso. When you returned for Season Two, was there a different kind of confidence that came in because of that?

I think we all felt a confidence when Season One was loved as much as it was. Certainly, when I was watching it as a punter, I was like, okay, now I totally get the tone, you know? (laughs). We were fortunate to land Sarah Niles as Dr. Sharon Fieldstone for Season Two. She was our big new signing. But for Season Three, there were many more peripheral roles to sink our teeth into.

How do you tackle that?

You do it role by role. Jack, Keeley’s new girlfriend in Season Three, is played by Jodi Balfour, and again, we saw a variety of people. I always do this, especially with Jason. I present him with a variety of people. Then one by one, we figure out who’s who.

With Jodi – she’s a really good actor – we knew she would have to play a duplicitous side. We didn’t want her to be quite openly duplicitous because we didn’t want to give any of that stuff away. So I’m very happy with that piece of casting.

You also cast The Lord of the Rings streaming series on Amazon, which couldn’t be more different from Ted Lasso. How was that experience?

Variety is the spice of life, so casting The Lord of the Rings was very different. At the same time, you’re still in a room with actors and presenting your favorites to a group of creatives. You’ve already had numerous conversations with those creatives about who might be right for the part before you get into that room. That informs things a lot.

With LOTR, one of the big differences is that it’s Middle Earth, so we’re talking about casting different species. Each species has its characteristics that we like to adhere to and we’ve talked at length about what we hope to see in the actors within those species prior to the auditions. Of course, there’s only one species in Ted Lasso! (laughs) They just need to be humans – humans who make us laugh and cry.

As a casting director, do you prefer seeing actors in person or via self tape?

I prefer seeing people in the room, to be honest. We should not be moving solely to self tapes and Zooms. COVID isn’t such a worry anymore, but there are lots of good things about self tapes. Some actors live away from London and can’t make it to the audition room, or they have childcare issues, or there might be a tube (subway) strike. The fact that we can use self tapes as an option — which has worked well over the last three years — is good.

Do you sympathize with actors who may not have information other than the sides when auditioning?

It sucks. I feel for them, but casting directors are often constrained by whatever the studio wants us to present to actors. I’d say do your homework as much as you can. If you are only sent a paragraph and you don’t know the show, find at least who the showrunners are, what they might have done before and what the tone of those pieces might have been. If you’re coming in for Lord of the Rings and it’s a part you don’t know much about, read a bit of Tolkien. Just a chapter to get your head in the zone. I know it’s hard and I do sympathize. But if you are presented with what you’re presented and it’s not enough, do some homework.

You began your career working for famed casting director Nina Gold, first as a casting assistant and then as a casting associate on films like The Theory of Everything, The Martian and the Star Wars films The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi. When you look back at your work in casting, what project would you say put you on the map where you feel you’ve arrived in your casting career?

I don’t know if I’ve arrived or if I am on the map (laughs), but I feel that Ted Lasso has changed my life. These jobs don’t come around very often and I am incredibly grateful to Jason and everybody on the show to have taken me along for the ride for three very happy, rewarding seasons.

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