Uh, Florence Pugh Apparently Had a Cameo Scene Cut from ‘Ted Lasso?’

Another day, another batch of Don’t Worry Darling tea: The internet is currently alight with rumors that Florence Pugh, noted (alleged) Olivia Wilde hater, was supposed to have a cameo in Ted Lasso, the sitcom ode to divorced dads everywhere starring and created by Wilde’s ex, Jason Sudeikis. The rumors stem from a behind-the-scenes photo of Pugh on set in front of a film camera, wearing fan-gear for the fictional football club at the heart of Ted Lasso.

See for yourself:

The photos first began making the rounds earlier this week, and, if you’re fortunate enough to not be as chronically online as yours truly, Pugh starring in Ted Lasso would be a pretty BFD, considering that sources allege that her all-but-confirmed “falling-out” with Wilde, who directed Darling, stems from Pugh’s friendship with Sudeikis. Pugh dated Zach Braff for years before they called it quits earlier this year, but Pugh was allegedly close to Sudeikis through Braff. Insiders from the set of Darling have said that Wilde’s relationship with co-star Harry Styles rubbed Pugh the wrong way, because it allegedly started before she and Sudeikis split.

Of course, Wilde has emphatically contested this timeline of events. In a Vanity Fair interview published this week, Wilde says her relationship with Sudeikis ended around the beginning of the pandemic in 2020, well before she and Styles first went public with their relationship in January 2021. “The complete horseshit idea that I left Jason for Harry is completely inaccurate. Our relationship was over long before I met Harry,” Wilde said. Other Darling “insiders” claimed Pugh resents Wilde because the director was supposedly so distracted by Styles that she couldn’t do her job—another claim Wilde hotly rebutted in the VF profile: “The idea that I had five seconds in the day to be distracted by anything is laughable. I was there before everyone. I was there after everyone.”

In any case, the narrative that’s taken off on Twitter since the photo of Pugh on the set of Ted Lasso first went viral is that she was supposed to guest-star, but her scene was cut—ostensibly amid all the Darling drama, because her cameo would all but confirm her rumored “support” for Sudeikis in the ongoing messiness of his split with Wilde.

But what seems more likely is that the photo came from the second episode of Ted Lasso’s first season, which was directed Braff. The photo was widely shared as early as last year on Reddit, and the scene allegedly wound up being cut not because of any drama, but due to time constraints.

Still, being the internet drama fiend that I am, I’d argue the photo in question, certainly has a connection to all the Darling drama—it’s at least evidence of her ties to Sudeikis, who isn’t exactly on great terms with Wilde right now. Back in April, Sudeikis very publicly served his ex custody papers on-stage at Cinema Con—an incident he claims was an honest mistake, while Wilde claims it was intentional and “consistent with my experience of the relationship.” She also pointed out “it took an extraordinary amount of energy [for the server] to get in that room” and “a tremendous amount of forethought.” Yikes!

There are other possible explanations for the great Wilde-Pugh feud, which Wilde emphatically denies while Pugh maniacally sips her spritz. There are some pretty out-there claims that Pugh and Styles first had a thing, before he moved on with Wilde. And then, of course, there’s the Shia LaBeouf drama: Amid rumors that LaBeouf, originally set to star in Styles’ role, was fired because he made Pugh uncomfortable, LaBeouf released a video of Wilde asking him to stay on, referring to Pugh as “Miss Flo.” (VF reports that the video was sent before Wilde knew how LaBeouf was affecting Pugh, and Wilde claims that like a protective “mother wolf,” she fired him once she knew.)

As for that photo of Pugh in AFC Richmond merch on the Ted Lasso set, yes, it seems likely she was supposed to guest-star at some point—but considering the photo was first shared in 2021, the scene and the decision to cut it seem unrelated to all of the DwD drama. The truth is, unfortunately, not so dramatic!