Nocturnal 
Ted Lasso has honoured its late star Anthony Head months after his death, closing the penultimate episode of season four with a simple but poignant title card: “In Memory of Anthony Head.”
The tribute appeared at the end of episode nine, “Mae Rides the Bus,” which aired on Apple TV on Wednesday 30 September. Head played Rebecca’s villainous ex-husband Rupert Mannion in the show’s first three seasons, tormenting AFC Richmond from the boardroom before Jason Sudeikis’s Ted eventually won the battle for the club’s soul.
Head died on 5 June at the age of 72. His daughters, Emily and Daisy Head, confirmed to the Press Association, as reported by the BBC and the Independent, that he died of complications from pneumonia. His long-term partner, animal welfare advocate Sarah Fisher, had died several months earlier in December 2025 after being diagnosed with thyroid cancer.
In a statement at the time, his daughters said: “We know how dearly he will be missed by friends, colleagues, and fans of the shows he was in – he loved his job very much, and he always considered himself incredibly lucky.” They added that his legacy would “live on, in the shows he was a part of, and in the audiences that love them,” while asking for privacy.
Why it matters
Head’s death meant fans were unsure whether Rupert would resurface in the final season at all. That uncertainty played out on screen: in episode eight, Rebecca, Higgins and Keeley suspected Rupert was secretly buying up shares to seize control of the women’s team, only for the plot to be revealed as the work of Tracey Ullman’s Zelda instead. It was a deliberate bait-and-switch that let the show reference Rupert one last time without recasting or reviving the character.
The same episode delivered a second gut-punch, with the death of pub owner Mae Green, played by Annette Badland, after she collapsed at an away match. Badland, who worked closely with Head on screen, told Deadline he was a “beautiful man” who would be “much missed,” recalling their “naughty little sort of asides” during a season one darts scene. She said she hadn’t realised how ill Head was, adding it was “a great honour” to appear in the episode dedicated to him.
Other co-stars paid tribute when Head’s death was first announced in June. Brett Goldstein, who plays Roy Kent and writes on the show, called him “a brilliant actor who played the worst person in the world… because he was the best person.” Jeremy Swift, who plays Higgins, wrote simply: “Goodbye Tony, we adored you.” Buffy the Vampire Slayer co-star Sarah Michelle Gellar also paid tribute on Instagram at the time, saying she was “the lucky one” to have known him.
Beyond Ted Lasso and Buffy, where he played Rupert Giles, Head’s four-decade career included King Uther in Merlin and the Prime Minister in Little Britain. He and Fisher had strong ties to Bath, living near the city at Tilley Farm, Fisher’s 90-acre animal sanctuary in Farmborough.
What happens next
Ted Lasso’s fourth season has one episode left to air, bringing the Apple TV comedy to a close. With Mae’s death and Rupert’s shadow both resolved in episode nine, the finale is expected to wrap up the remaining storylines, including the fallout from Zelda’s scheme and the Lady Greyhounds’ season.
