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WARNING: SEASON 2 SPOILERS BELOW

I was so ready to dislike the guy who plays Nate Shelley on Ted Lasso after the character’s heel-turn in Season 2. But it turns out that Nick Mohammed is the nicest guy ever and impossible to dislike. And the negative response he’s getting on social media shows what a terrific acting job Mohammed did in the recently completed Season 2. I hope you enjoy our interview as much as Chris Wittyngham and I did!

Grant Wahl:

Our guest now plays one of the most fascinating characters on Ted Lasso. Nick Mohammed plays Nate Shelley, ambitious soccer coach. He got an Emmy award nomination for outstanding supporting actor in a comedy series. We're going to have spoilers here folks, so if you don't want to hear them, you should go away now and come back after you finished the Ted Lasso season that just ended on Apple TV+.

Nick, congratulations on everything you're doing. It's great to see you. Thanks for coming on the show.

Nick Mohammed:

Thank you so much, Grant. Thanks for having me.

Grant Wahl:

Lots to talk about here, my friend. Terrific season. I just wanted to start by asking how much hate mail and social media negativity have you been receiving for Nate's heel-turn this season?

Nick Mohammed:

You know, a fair amount, a fair amount. No, listen, I think obviously people are hating Nate right now, but I've said it all the time, that is correct. It would be weird if people were like, "Hey, Nate's behaving great this season." This is behavior that we completely condone. He's making a series of bad decisions, and it feels worse because, I think, with Season 1, with that kind of Nate story in that season, it was the underdog does good and everyone could associate with that. 

Everyone warmed to Nate in that kind of way, but little did they know what was brewing underneath. So I think there's been further to fall, and I think people have taken that quite personally. But in a good way. People have had a strong reaction to the show and that's all we ever try and strive for, I guess.

Social media's crazy anyway. I only dip in and out occasionally anyway, but people have been able to distinguish between me and the character. But of course, people are hating on Nate, but then they've been kind to say, but we know he's just an actor, da da, da, da.

Grant Wahl:

What's the wildest thing you've seen in terms of the reaction so far?

Nick Mohammed:

Someone sent me different pictures of cats that chart Nate's downfall. (laughs)

Grant Wahl:

As you do.

Nick Mohammed:

As you do, yeah. And one of them did genuinely look like me. So I was like, oh yeah, fair enough. The thing is, the most affecting thing has been when people have said, "Oh, I'm finding this quite triggering, the bullied becoming the bully," and the stuff that it touches on and the toxic relationship with his dad and the assault on Keeley. These are really serious topics, and Ted Lasso just walks this incredible fine line that it manages to deliver such an important message, a lot of drama and emotion as well as it being a comedy. It's important that we take all that seriously, but yeah it has affected people and it does have a far reach, that show.

I didn't want to as well, start scrolling through Twitter too much because ... Partly as well, because that's exactly what Nate does in the show. He starts scrolling through Twitter, and I just thought it'd be really weird if I started getting like, "Ooh, look at these tweets". So I dip in and out.

Chris Wittyngham:

Bit too much of method acting there, if you started reading your own replies. When did you find out that this was going to be the season of the Nate heel-turn? Or as you said, the breadcrumbs were there in Season 1, because you kind of know that it was going in this direction in Season 2?

Nick Mohammed:

Yeah. Early on, I remember Jason [Sudeikis], we were filming the gala episode in Season 1, which was episode three or four, and Jason and I were sat next to each other for a lot of that. He just sort of described just broadly speaking, the three-season arc for Nate. And this was before I think it had even been renewed actually. They've had it all in their heads for ages and I didn't know all the details, but I knew, roughly speaking, where things were going. And like you say, there's a few little things that are planted in Season 1 which definitely makes sense in hindsight.

Grant Wahl:

You wrote a really interesting post on Twitter, pointing out some major moments in Nate's character development, including his graying hair as the season progressed. And you wrote, "In my head, Nate was transforming into José Mourinho."

Nick Mohammed:

Yeah.

Grant Wahl:

And it made me think, what all was going on there with that transformation?

Nick Mohammed:

Well, I think only in a sense that ... I said to you guys before, I don't know really much about any sport, let alone football. But we had talked a little bit about coaching techniques and management techniques, and when stuff goes to a coach’s head and they start to see themselves … and I'm not saying about José Mourinho necessarily, like saying it's completely based on him. It's obviously not. But just in my head, there are just elements of a coach almost becoming more famous than some of the players. That's kind of a really interesting thing, when they're kind of coaching the team and what they will do to bring out the best in the team. The kind of ruthless ambition for a particular club over hurting individual players' feelings, say. Just seeing the greater goal. I think you maybe have to be a degree of a bit of a sociopath maybe, to sort of sometimes do that.

I'm not pinpointing on José or anyone. I'm just saying that there's still some of that ... I just remember reading about a lot of that stuff, and thinking about it a lot when going in Season 2.

Chris Wittyngham:

Now you said it to us in the pre-interview, but I think a lot of people might be surprised to hear that you are not actually a football fan or a sports fan of any kind. First off, why not? And second, how much does that require you to then study the behavior of managers? It is more acting in a way, because I imagine there are people on the show who are football fans, who it's not that much of a stretch for them because they kind of understand the behavior a bit more.

Nick Mohammed:

I would say me and Jeremy [Swift], who plays Higgins, we know so little about football. I have to ask so many questions because I don't know ... Sometimes when I'm talking about strategy, I don't know what the words mean. I don't know whether they're verbs or nouns, I just don't know anything. I don't know the names of the teams. I don't know what the Premiership is. Listen, I've learned a lot more since doing this job, and it's not that I don't like it. My dad's a huge football fan, and I went to loads of football games when I was growing up. I just couldn't get into it. I was just a bit too geeky for it.

I wasn't like the sporty kid at school. I did magic when I was growing up, and still do magic now, but I just didn't fit in. I much preferred playing chess. It just never was a thing for me. I enjoyed tennis, I enjoyed playing tennis, not that I've played tennis for years, to be fair, since having kids. And I jog a lot, but I'm just not into football. I watched the Euros because England got to the final, and that felt quite good. And I enjoy watching athletics, I guess, I like the camaraderie. I like that.

Actually my appreciation for team sports in general has definitely gone up watching the show. And those guys who play the footballers in the show, a) they're all semi-pro footballers really anyway. I mean, they're incredible. But also they love it and they breathe in the sport, and they talk about it all the time, and that is infectious. You can't help but be thinking, "Oh, I kind of wish I was a part of this." But I still feel a little bit outside of that. 

But it was quite useful. I remember when we were filming Season 1, because Nate is such an outsider, particularly in that season, thinking, oh, I should use this. I should not join in with these conversations, and I should feel awkward about not being able to join in with these conversations, because that's how Nate feels.

We got to film in some really cool places, we filmed in Crystal Palace and Wembley. It's like, oh this is Wembley. That's pretty cool. So I could appreciate some of that. And weirdly the only time I've been to Wembley before was to see a magic show, like genuinely. [laughs] Not been to see any sport there. The Ehrlich Brothers, who are these two German illusionists, had done this massive tour of arenas and they did Wembley when they came to England a couple of years ago. So that's the only time I've previously been.

Grant Wahl:

That's great. You note in your Twitter post that Nate and Ted don't have a scene with just the two of them together in Season 2, until the season's final episode. And it's this incredible scene. And I'm wondering, how did you approach your side of the acting in that scene? It felt a little bit like Pacino and De Niro finally getting their scene together.

Nick Mohammed:

Well, that's very kind. Listen, it's all hats off to the writers. Jason and Joe Kelly, one of the co-creators, wrote that final episode. I knew it had been brewing for so long, and I was made aware, it's really important that there's not a scene between Ted and Nate prior to this. Because you want the audience to almost feel that sense of, they just need to have it out. Someone needs to say something. Something needs to happen. 

And so it did make it a bit of a pressure-cooker scene in a way, because it just felt like, okay, finally we get to have it out. And Jason is so good. I mean, listen, I was so supported in that scene, and I've not really had to act like that previously, because a lot of what I do is just silly comedy stuff really.

I knew that it was going to be a bit challenging and quite tricky, but the director Declan Lowney, and I think Joe Kelly was on set. I think Brett [Goldstein, who plays Roy Kent and writes for the show] might have been on set for a bit of that. But we kept it really quiet and quite small because it was going to be quite intense, and for Jason as well. Jason was really sweet, and we shot my side first so that we could get that out of the way. 

Jason just really got in my head, like in a good way, just talking in my ear as if he was Nate's inner demon, so that I was really pumped walking into the office, where then he would follow me in afterwards so that I could really lay into him. So he's just really good at making it relatable and personal. But it was difficult. It felt real, though. It felt really real. And that was what we needed it to feel, so I'm glad how it turned out.

Grant Wahl:

Do you feel like you've unlocked this new dimension in your ability as an actor in this show? Because that's a real, real scene.

Nick Mohammed:

Yeah. Not in a self-aggrandizing way. I was pleased with how it ended. It's the kind of thing where you're nervous and there was a lot of build-up to it. And then we did it and I was like, oh it's good we've done that. And I only watched it once, I'm not going to dwell on it. Because I've not been to drama school and stuff, so I lack quite a lot of technique, and I did need a lot of ... I needed Jason there to walk me through this, because I just need to know. I'm not going to be able to do it otherwise. I guess now having done it once, there's something to relate doing, I guess, proper acting to. And I didn't really have that prior to then. So yeah, I guess it's made me quite excited. I've never done drama before really. It was satisfying ultimately. Yeah.

Chris Wittyngham:

What was the process of Jason Sudeikis priming you up for this scene, trying to channel that inner demon?

Nick Mohammed:

I think he was basically pretending to be Nate's dad, effectively. He was sort of saying, "You'll never get a girlfriend. You're useless. You're a loser. I'm never going to be proud of you." He was sort of doing the thing that ... That monologue, the thing to Ted is really he's having a go at his dad. But he's lashing out in the wrong directions because he's gone ... Well, he's not mad, but he's gone on such a downward spiral. He's just lashing out to all the wrong people. And you know, Ted was effectively his dad in Season 1. And it's true. Ted has abandoned him.

It's not Ted's fault. Ted's got his own stuff going on, but Nate doesn't see it that way. He just feels like he's just bereft and without a support network. No friends, no partner, relationship, girlfriend, boyfriend. He's like, what am I doing? And so now he's just really lashing out. He's gone into some weird defensive mode and he's just laying into Ted, saying all the things that he's probably should have really said to his dad a long time ago.

Grant Wahl:

Now that Nate has the top job at West Ham United, what kind of a manager do you think he's going to be?

Nick Mohammed:

Well I don't know, actually. I mean, they're writing at the moment. I keep on getting the odd little tantalizing text from Brett. I've known Brett for ages, and I knew him before Ted Lasso. I don't know, is the true answer. I think we're all hoping there might be some kind of redemption arc for Nate. I genuinely don't know. He might be the one character that they don't redeem, because everyone expects it as well. Everyone expects a redemption arc in Ted Lasso, because that's the show. Jamie's had one, Rebecca had one, and will Nate get one? I don't know. He might have overstepped the mark.

Having Rupert as a boss can't be a good thing, right? I wouldn't call him an inspiring leader. He's great, is Anthony Head who plays that part. He's just so incredible at doing that smarmy, horrible, patronizing, sinister sort of quality to that part. He's brilliant. So I don't know. I think, in my head and again I don't know, he's either going to flourish because this is the rise of what he's always maybe been destined to do. And then I would say there's probably no redemption. Or he's going to realize that Rupert is the worst person in the world and he's going to get shit on, and he's going to realize, ah, what have I done? And he's going to come crawling back to AFC Richmond. But I genuinely don't know. So we'll have to see.

Chris Wittyngham:

Nick, you mentioned your lack of background in drama, or not going to drama school. So I guess I would just ask, how did you come upon this role, and how did you end up in this show or in this industry, when that isn't necessarily your background?

Nick Mohammed:

The long, long story is, I was at Cambridge doing a PhD in geophysics, which is quite specific. I wouldn't recommend doing that to get into acting. [laughs] But I joined the Cambridge Footlights, which you might have heard of, which is like the sketch group part of Cambridge. A lot of Monty Python and Mitchell and Webb, Fry and Laurie. It's got a really good alumni base. And it makes you not ambitious, but it makes you think, oh well if you want to try and follow comedy as a career, not that there's any guarantees, but this is a good starting point. And it was, in that I really got into writing comedy and every two weeks they'd put on these sketch shows and you could do your bit. I got into doing live comedy and then went to the Edinburgh Festival, and still do a lot of live stuff.

Fast forward 10 years, when I first moved to London, I couldn't afford to just do comedy for a living, because I was doing open mic spots and it wasn't well paid or anything. So I was working at Morgan Stanley, the investment bank, for a bit. And then eventually turned profession just over 10 years ago, just doing acting.

It's been quite a slow burn. I've always been really happy. I sort of balanced it with writing stuff for myself and sitcoms and radio shows and things. I remember this casting coming about when I was filming Intelligence, which was the first series that I'd written just on my own, which is me and David Schwimmer. Not that I was skeptical about the show at all, but I remember it coming at a time when I was really busy with Intelligence and I was an executive producer on that show as well, so I needed to be all over it. And I was like, ah is this going to take me away from that? We knew that we were going to do another series of Intelligence already as well, so I was going to have to write that.

I was like, should I? And then I read it, obviously, and it was great, and I knew that Jason's so great and Brendan [Hunt] and Bill Lawrence and I knew about Brett's involvement as well. And they had outlined the season arc a little bit in a bit more detail and where it might be going. And I was like, oh, this actually sounds really, really tantalizing. So eventually I was like, you know what? I've got to do this. I'm obviously so grateful that I did do it, because I never looked back. And I remember 10 days later I was in the readthrough with all those guys and sat next to Jason, who had a deck of cards. So Jason's a massive magic fan as well, and a really good magician. So he was always doing card stuff and things. So yeah, it was lovely.

Grant Wahl:

So you were nominated for the same Emmy award with your Ted Lasso co-stars Brett Goldstein, Brandon Hunt and Jeremy Swift. Brett ends up winning it. What was that like for all of you to be up for the same Emmy award?

Nick Mohammed:

I think we were just so ... I mean, listen. We all knew Brett was getting it. [Laughs] There was no doubt in our mind that Brett was getting it. I thought either Brendan, because everyone's good. Jeremy's good. Brendan's good. Brett's good. But Brendan, partly because he's co-creator of that show and he's so fun in that role as Coach Beard. So I thought it was between him and Brett. Jeremy and I, we were texting each other and we were like, we are just here for the free food. And for the flight over to the States. We couldn't believe it. So we were just delighted to be there.

There was no pressure on us to prepare a speech. We were like, Brett or Brendan have got this, and probably Brett. So it was wonderful. And I think I felt the same. I think we knew that Hannah [Waddingham, who plays Rebecca] was likely to win, and Jason was likely to win. Not in an overconfident way, but we were just ... Because the previous award stuff had happened prior to that, it looks like it's quite favorable odds for them.

It was my first time in America. I think I flew in on the Saturday night, the Emmys was a Sunday night, and then I flew back on the Monday night. So I was jet-lagged through the whole thing. But it was incredible and bonkers. Yeah, it was mad.

Chris Wittyngham:

So on the set, you mentioned a brief window into Jason as both someone who does magic and someone who can become your father and tell you you're worth nothing. Is there anything where Jason is Ted Lasso, Ted Lasso is Jason? Do you have any stories on set from him almost absorbing that character, even when you're not filming?

Nick Mohammed:

Always. Pretty much always. I remember the end of Season 1, and it was late at night, I think it was four in the morning and it was November, so it was quite cold. Not to complain, because we're so grateful and privileged to be actors, acting in a show. But everyone had worked really hard and we got to the end of the shoot and, and Ted ... Ted? Jason sort of knelt down in the middle of the pitch and was quite teary, I think, because it'd been tough for him and he’d been away from his family. 

And all the players and actors surrounded him like in a huddle, like it was a pregame speech kind of thing. And he just gave this really impassioned speech about how grateful he was for everyone stepping up to the mark and caring. And everyone does care. Crew, cast, everyone cares so much to nail the thing they're doing, whatever it is they're doing.

At that point we didn't know it was going to have such a wide reach, and now it feels even more. We have to care even more, and we do, because we are so delighted that people have taken the show to their hearts. And even the other week, I remember off the back of the Keeley episode, episode 11, where there's the inappropriate ... When Nate kisses Keeley, and it's completely wrong and he oversteps the mark. And there was quite a bit of Twitter fallout. Not Twitter fallout, but it was a big moment and it's like, oh Nate, this is this pretty serious now. And obviously off the back of 12. And Jason texted me just before the finale, "I just want to check in, I hope you're OK. I know that social media is doing its thing and this is good, this is a good thing, because we need people to feel this." And so he was just really sweet and very Ted-like.

Grant Wahl:

So you're actually back in the United States now. You're in Albuquerque, New Mexico, of all places, doing some work. It's your second trip in your life to the United States. And what are you learning on this, your first real trip? It doesn't sound like you were here very long on the first one.

Nick Mohammed:

Yeah. So I'm here for five weeks. I've done about 10 days actually, so I'm just under four weeks to go. It's wonderful. I'm doing this film called Maggie Moore(s). I feel very out of my depth [laughs], but it's great. It's like nothing I've ever experienced before. It's this film set in this desert town and I play a deputy sheriff, I guess. And Jon Hamm is my boss and Tina Fey is in it, and all these heroes. And John Slattery is directing it. It's just been mad. It's weird how similar it is in the UK. The crew have a very similar dynamic to the crews in the UK, and everyone's just very friendly and supportive. I feel it's good.

It's quite mad. I've got to do some driving and there's some stunts in it, which I've obviously never done before. So I'm like, this is quite fun. So it's very different. I was about to give a spoiler away, so I won't say that, about what the stunt is on Monday. But I'm doing a stunt thing on Monday and I've been shown videos of it. I'm like, OK, I'll have a go at that. So we'll see what that turns out like. [laughs]

Grant Wahl:

I should mention, the name’s Maggie Moore(s). It's got as director John Slattery of Mad Men fame, also Jon Hamm of Mad Men fame, in addition to Tina Fey. And when I think of Mad Men, I think of tremendous acting, but also it's just some wonderfully hilarious lines from John Slattery. Before you met them, had you watched Mad Men at all to get a sense of them?

Nick Mohammed:

Oh yeah. I absolutely loved it. I'm big fans of all three of those. And this is John's third or fourth film that he's directed, I think. And he loves it. You can see he's so in his element and he loves it. And I think he's had this script a while, and then COVID got in the way. So I think it's been a long time coming. And when I read it, I was like, oh, this is really cool. It's really exciting and very different to anything I've done before. It's not similar to Ted in any way, but it walks that fine line in the way that I think Ted does, in that it somehow manages to be a thriller in some respects because it's about the murder of two women.

It's loosely based on a true story. The murder of two women with the same name, that was unsolved. But they managed to put comedy in the trauma of it, I guess. In the way that I think a lot of police, people who work in ambulances, medicine, hospitals and so on, the way they deal with trauma day in, day out, they have to almost detach themselves from it. They almost become quite cynical about some of it, and the way they speak they're very matter-of-fact, when actually you or I it would be like, gee, that's too much. I can't cope with it.

So they find comedy in those dark places. So it's really interesting and it walks a really fun, fine line. And it's really odd. It's a lot of character actors as well, actually. Very odd-looking people, odd-sounding people. So it's going to be fun. And it’s sort to be this small, there's a town in the middle of nowhere where not much really happens. It's going to be interesting. Yeah.

Grant Wahl:

What kind of an accent does your character have?

Nick Mohammed:

Well, we played around with a few. At first we were doing as if I was local from ... It's set in Arizona actually, rather than New Mexico. I was doing an American accent, and then we thought, is there more fun to be had if I'm playing a slightly more British guy who's come over, and then what if we're somewhere in between. So we play around with it and we were able to improvise a little bit as well. So occasionally I slip into American, almost to mark Jon Hamm's character. And he does the same for me as a British guy. So there's some fun to be had with that. And the writer's on set as well, which is great. So we've been playing with some of that. I can't wait to see it actually.

Grant Wahl:

Would you mind if I asked what your American accent sounds like?

Chris Wittyngham:

I was just going to ask the same question. I still don't know how American accents are done so regularly by British actors.

Nick Mohammed:

OK. So I have this amazing accent coach, a guy called Rick Lipton. And he works with Tom Holland and he's a great guy. And he actually lives quite near to where I live. And he has these 41 American sentences that you have to read before you do any American accent. And so here it is. Okay. Mr. Miller remembered he had climbed many mountains. Dan and Ned ran from the barn into the open. The singing in the evening showed nothing wrong. Part way up the slope is a popular camping spot. It's like this software that tricks your brain into becoming an American, but it's all written phonetically and stuff.

Chris Wittyngham:

Is it sort of like the rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain?

Nick Mohammed:

Exactly. They all like-

Chris Wittyngham:

Wow.

Nick Mohammed:

Yeah.

Grant Wahl:

Nick Mohammed plays Nate Shelley, ambitious soccer coach, and got an Emmy award nomination for outstanding supporting actor in a comedy series on Ted Lasso. Season 3 starts when?

Nick Mohammed:

Well, I don't know actually. We start filming in January, I think. They're writing it now. Filming the start of next year. It takes six months to film, but then there's a staggered delivery. So as soon as we finish filming, I suspect it'll come out next summer, like it did this year.

Grant Wahl:

Well, thank you so much for coming on the show.

Nick Mohammed:

Thank you for having me.

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