How the Game of Thrones showrunners helped Hannah Waddingham land Ted Lasso

Back in 2021, Hannah Waddingham won an Emmy award for playing Rebecca Welton, the emotionally vulnerable owner of the AFC Richmond football club, on the Apple TV+ show Ted Lasso. That was a career high for her, but Game of Thrones fans will likely always remember her as Septa Unella, aka the Shame Nun who rang Cersei Lannister through the streets of King's Landing during her infamous walk of shame.

As it ends up, the roles are connected, since Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss personally helped Waddingham land the role of Rebecca, as Waddingham revealed to Today. "I got David Benioff and Dan Weiss to write an email to the powers that be," she said. "The subject was, 'What are we even discussing here?' It was such a beautiful, quiet, genuine endorsement of, 'Let the girl play.'"

Of course, Waddingham could well have gotten the role without that push — if you've watched the show you knows she's perfect as the character; there's a reason she won an Emmy. Even Jason Sudekis, who played Ted Lasso himself, thought she was perfect for the part the moment he saw her. But it doesn't hurt to have the producers of what was then the biggest show on TV put in a good word for you. And of course, being on a show as huge as Game of Thrones in the first place raised Waddingham's profile. "It was almost like them allowing me in made everyone else prick up a bit," she said.

Unless HBO pulls out something extremely unexpected, we'll likely never see Waddingham as Septa Unella again. However, there are rumblings that Apple TV+ is trying to get a fourth season of Ted Lasso off the ground, with Waddingham mentioned as one of the cast members in the mix.

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