{"id":2360748,"date":"2026-04-06T12:12:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T12:12:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2360748"},"modified":"2026-04-06T12:12:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T12:12:12","slug":"phil-dunster-on-rooster-ted-lasso-and-his-next-act","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/phil-dunster-on-rooster-ted-lasso-and-his-next-act\/","title":{"rendered":"Phil Dunster on Rooster, Ted Lasso, and His Next Act"},"content":{"rendered":"

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He asks me if I\u2019m splitting the G<\/em>. I beg his pardon. \u201cThat feels like an inappropriate question, doesn\u2019t it?\u201d Phil Dunster says with a hooligan\u2019s giggle. We\u2019re sitting at a booth inside McGee\u2019s, an Irish pub a stone\u2019s throw from Times Square. (Also, famously, the pub that inspired the main bar on How I Met Your Mother<\/em>.) The thirty-four-year-old actor, who was born in Northampton in the UK and raised in a British military family, explains to me\u2014a dude from New Jersey\u2014that splitting the G<\/em> is a game wherein your first drink of a pint of Guinness should leave the top of the brew \u201csplitting\u201d the G<\/em> on the glass. \u201cIt became a viral thing,\u201d he explains. \u201cMost Irish people probably roll their eyes. They\u2019re like, \u2018Fuck\u2019s sake, just drink it.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n

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Blair Getz Mezibov<\/span><\/figcaption>

Shirt ($775) by Tod\u2019s.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n

Before we met for lunch in late February, the man who played AFC Richmond\u2019s star forward on the Apple TV hit Ted Lasso<\/em> assumed he\u2019d have to dress up for a high-end midtown steakhouse and brace himself for a long and winding chat. Dunster thought he\u2019d need to endure probing questions about his new HBO series Rooster<\/em><\/a> and a potential Ted Lasso<\/em> return<\/a>, plus wicked jet lag after flying thirty-five hundred miles from London to New York the night before. Which he absolutely did, but not without a bit of mercy: I picked a place that proudly serves Guinness. Instead of an oxford, he\u2019s relaxed in a Formula 1 jersey his mates got him during his stag party. \u201cOr, um, bachelor weekend, or whatever it is you guys call it,\u201d he says with a grin.<\/p>\n

We clink pints (and I fail to split the G<\/em>) as Obama-era Top Forty hits overwhelm the place, a soundtrack fitting for a bar whose associated TV show ended in 2014, when Dunster was fresh out of drama school in Bristol. A short year later he was onstage doing Shakespeare (in a modern take on Much Ado About Nothing<\/em>, in which his Claudio held a scoped assault rifle) and booking his first TV credit on the sitcom Catastrophe<\/em>. Then, in 2020, Dunster charmed the world as arrogant footballer Jamie Tartt on Ted Lasso<\/em>. Over the course of three seasons, Jamie evolved from pampered athlete to earnest team player, earning Dunster a fandom as rabid as that of any Premier League club.<\/p>\n

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Blair Getz Mezibov<\/span><\/figcaption>

Jacket ($1,990), shirt ($1,690), trousers ($960), and loafers ($1,390) by Ferragamo; <\/strong>bracelet ($1,100) by David Yurman;\u00a0<\/strong>Constellation Observatory watch ($37,900) by Omega.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Blair Getz Mezibov<\/span><\/figcaption>

Jacket ($5,700), vest ($3,995), and trousers ($2,095) by Giorgio Armani.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Given that Lasso<\/em> last aired in May 2023\u2014in a third season that was tepidly received\u2014you\u2019d think the passion for AFC Richmond would\u2019ve quieted by now. Nope. During lunch, not one but three groups of people muster up the courage to interrupt and ask Dunster if he\u2019s \u201cthe guy on Ted Lasso<\/em>.\u201d One cluster of tourists show him their group chat, named \u201cChurch of Lasso.\u201d Dunster happily obliges with selfies and video shout-outs to friends at home. \u201cIt struck a chord,\u201d he says of the acclaimed comedy from TV creator Bill Lawrence, who is also one of the creators behind Rooster<\/em>, alongside Matt Tarses. \u201cIt happened at a time people really needed a comfort show.\u201d<\/p>\n

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People can always use a comfort show, whether it\u2019s during a pandemic or while we\u2019re waging another expensive war on the far side of the world. Lawrence is meeting the demand with Rooster<\/em>\u2014a new yet spiritually like-minded HBO series. Steve Carell<\/a> stars as Greg, a novelist who gets a job teaching creative writing at an East Coast liberal-arts college. Dunster trades in football kits for Brooks Brothers sweaters to play Archie, a Russian-\u00adliterature professor who, as the show begins, has left Greg\u2019s daughter for a grad student.<\/p>\n

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Blair Getz Mezibov<\/span><\/figcaption>

Sweatshirt ($1,950), shirt ($970), and tie ($300) by Dior;\u00a0<\/strong>jeans ($78) by Levi\u2019s.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Blair Getz Mezibov<\/span><\/figcaption>

Jacket ($4,800), shirt ($1,170), trousers ($1,100), and pocket square ($320) by Brunello Cucinelli;\u00a0<\/strong>loafers by Brioni.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Put Tartt and Archie in the same room and silence might fill the void. But Dunster knows what they have in common. \u201cArchie is an erudite academic,\u201d he says over bites of a turkey burger painted with ketchup. \u201cThe problem is that he knows that more than anyone. Someone who has that much conviction, that much self-aggrandizement\u2014how do you play it so that it isn\u2019t one-dimensional?\u201d<\/p>\n

Dunster was a younger man when he starred on Ted Lasso<\/em>, when he himself learned to have so many eyeballs on him. Now he feels closer to Archie. Jamie was a boy who grew up; Archie is a grown man relearning the fundamentals. \u201cThere\u2019s a confidence one gets as they work more, and are alive longer, through life experiences that anybody would learn turning thirty,\u201d he observes. \u201cI was twenty-seven when I started on Ted<\/em>. I\u2019ve gotten married since then. You just age.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Blair Getz Mezibov<\/span><\/figcaption>

Jacket ($5,325), shirt ($1,145), trousers ($1,185), and shoes ($710) by Loro Piana.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Blair Getz Mezibov<\/span><\/figcaption>

Jacket ($4,995) and shirt ($695) by Ralph Lauren\u00a0<\/strong>Purple Label; <\/strong>jeans ($78) by Levi\u2019s;\u00a0<\/strong>sunglasses ($405) by Thistles.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

While Dunster doesn\u2019t have kids (yet), he does have nieces\u2014and he\u2019s happy to finally have something they can watch together. (His posh philanderer in Rooster<\/em> isn\u2019t exactly a role model.) He\u2019s filming How to Train Your Dragon 2<\/em>, a live-action remake of the 2014 DreamWorks hit sequel. Its magnitude, with its greenscreens and stunts, is new to Dunster, a far cry from his humble start in a school production of Under Milk Wood <\/em>at seventeen. \u201cIt\u2019s bombastic. It\u2019s playful. It\u2019s huge,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

This article appeared in the April\/May 2026 issue of Esquire
subscribe<\/a><\/p>\n

Looking ahead, Dunster can\u2019t say anything about coming back to Ted Lasso<\/em>, which returns for a fourth season in August. Actually, one of the selfie seekers beat me to it. \u201cWe\u2019ll cross our fingers,\u201d he told them. He tells me the same. \u201cBut my wife is directing it,\u201d he says, referring to Ellie Heydon, his partner of nine years. \u201cIt was such a huge part of my life and, by proxy, her life. It\u2019s now her experience, and it\u2019s special to see another perspective. It\u2019s gonna be brilliant.\u201d<\/p>\n

Anyway, there\u2019s Rooster<\/em>, a funny, charming sitcom in its own right. When more patrons spot Dunster and bring up Ted Lasso<\/em>, I hint to him that it\u2019s a good opportunity for some shameless plugging. \u201cOh yeah\u2014watch Rooster<\/em>,\u201d he tells them. They promise him they will. I believe them. People always need a comfort show.<\/p>\n

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Opening image credits: Jacket ($4,450), shirt ($1,625), trousers ($1,400), and belt ($2,075) by Herm\u00e8s.<\/em><\/p>\n

Story by Eric Francisco<\/em>
Photographs by Blair Getz Mezibov<\/em>
Styling by Warren Alfie Baker<\/em>
Grooming by Jessica Ortiz using Highland Haircare<\/em>
Esquire Executive Design Director: Martin Hoops<\/em>
Esquire Visual Director: James Morris<\/em>
Esquire Senior Entertainment Director: Andrea Cuttler<\/em>
Editor in Chief: Michael Sebastian<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.esquire.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

He asks me if I\u2019m splitting the G. I beg his pardon. \u201cThat feels like an inappropriate question, doesn\u2019t it?\u201d Phil Dunster says with a hooligan\u2019s giggle. We\u2019re sitting at a booth inside McGee\u2019s, an Irish pub a stone\u2019s throw from Times Square. (Also, famously, the pub that inspired the main bar on How I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2360749,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[447500,440742,274717,458489,310911,285684,446345,458488,440065],"class_list":["post-2360748","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-collection-kings-of-style","tag-collection-tv-profiles","tag-content-type-news","tag-contentid-a95b608a-c566-4dbf-8a8b-4b454d8a735d","tag-displaytype-long-form-article","tag-locale-us","tag-read_time-5","tag-shorttitle-phil-dunster-is-on-a-hot-streak","tag-subsection-tv"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Phil-Dunster-on-Rooster-Ted-Lasso-and-His-Next-Act.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2360748","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2360748"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2360748\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2360750,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2360748\/revisions\/2360750"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2360749"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2360748"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2360748"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2360748"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}