When you hear the name Brett Goldstein, I’d bet money that the first character you think of is Roy Kent. The comedian broke big thanks to his two-time Emmy-winning performance as the grumpy footballer on one of Apple TV+’s best shows, Ted Lasso, and to this day, he’s beloved for it. However, it turns out that wasn’t the role he was initially up for, and honestly, I can’t even picture him playing the part he thought he might get.
OK, so here’s the situation, Brett Goldstein was considered for Higgins first. He was hired as a writer on Ted Lasso originally, and he was told he might have a chance of playing AFC Richmond's Director of Communications. However, it was a short-lived idea, because Jeremy Swift swiftly, for lack of a better term, came into the picture and nabbed the role, as the Roy Kent actor explained during an interview with Jeremy Egner in the book Believe:
I was originally brought on as a writer with the promise from Bill Lawrence of, ‘Maybe you’ll play this Higgins character.’ And I knew I’d lost the gig the second we in the writers’ room saw Jeremy’s casting tape.
Truthfully, I can’t even begin to fathom this idea. As Shrinking proved, Goldstein is capable of playing any character extremely well. However, in the world of Ted Lasso he is Roy Kent and Jeremy Swift is Higgins, and that’s that.
Can you see Goldstein saying a Ted Lasso line like “Ceaser you later?” Can you picture him playing the bass? I sure can’t…however, I would like to see it. Regardless, we don’t live in that parallel universe.
Now to make this story even wilder, Goldstein wasn’t the only person who auditioned for this role. Multiple primary players in the Ted Lasso cast were considered to play Rebecca’s right-hand man first. Both Nick Mohammed (who ended up playing Nate) and Phil Dunster (who ultimately landed the role of Jamie Tartt) were on that list. Honestly, that just makes this whole situation even more bananas, because I can’t picture any of them as Higgins at all.
That’s all a great compliment to how phenomenal all these guys are in their respective roles. Each member of the Ted Lasso ensemble made a massive mark as their characters, and to this day they are remembered fondly for them.
So, overall, thank goodness Jeremy Swift was cast as Higgins. And thank goodness Brett Goldstein wasn’t and decided to put himself up for Roy Kent instead. The show wouldn’t be what it is without them in these specific roles, and in the end, I’m overjoyed that this all shook out the way it did.
To go back and see the masterpiece that is Ted Lasso, and try and picture Brett Goldstein as Higgins instead of Roy Kent, you can stream all three seasons with an Apple TV+ subscription.
