Ted Lasso’s Nick Mohammed on Playing Nate’s Mean Side

Some actors may go method to achieve a believable performance, but for Ted Lasso‘s Nick Mohammed, he’s just acting. 

“At the end of the day, whatever you’re doing, whoever you’re portraying, whatever the situation—it is pretend,” he told E! News. “It can never be the real experience.”

Yes, at times it feels real when you’re watching the Apple TV+ show, but it’s not like Nick went out and started bullying people to prepare for Nate Shelley’s villainous transformation in season two. Instead, he leaned on his co-stars to guide his performance. 

Nick recalled preparing for his intense shouting match with Jason Sudeikis‘ Ted, a scene that set the stage for Nate’s departure as AFC Richmond’s assistant coach. “In terms of sort of working myself up, Jason—he asked if he was alright to do this—but very much was sort of kind of getting into my space and almost being Nate’s bad demon,” Nick said, adding that Jason told him things like, “You’re rubbish. You’re a failure. They’re going to lose this game because of you.”