WEST HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA – JULY 15: Brett Goldstein attends Apple’s “Ted Lasso” season two … [+]
Recently, Ted Lasso fans have been debating about whether or not the show has declined in its second season, or improved, but another, more pressing issue has entered the Lasso discourse lately – is Roy Kent real?
Roy, played by actor Brett Goldstein, has been inducing the uncanny valley effect in certain viewers, prompting some to question if the man even exists. The conspiracy theory was earnestly discussed by a group of Redditors on the r/TedLasso subreddit, where several users agreed that there was something off about Roy.
To be fair, it wasn’t a hugely popular discussion, with few participating, and very few upvotes, but those who did join the conversation seemed thoroughly convinced that Roy Kent was a special effect.
One Redditor wrote, “My wife thought I was crazy until she Googled it and found this thread.” Another wrote, “Thank god for this thread. My husband doesn’t see it…I felt like I was going crazy. Every episode consists of me analyzing Roy and I can’t pay attention to anything else. His slow eye movements, blinks, and odd body movements have to be CGI! How are we the only ones seeing this?”
The conspiracy theory was amplified on Twitter by film critic Guy Dolbey, who snapshotted the discussion, prompting other Twitter users to confirm that they also believed Roy to be fake.
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Twitter users began comparing snapshots of Brett Goldstein, and while the actor is very much a living, breathing person, some of the Ted Lasso shots do seem to resemble FIFA screengrabs. Hmm.
Perhaps there’s something about the show’s lighting that makes the man’s skin look a bit smooth, or maybe his hair and beard is a little too perfect.
Eventually, even Goldstein himself became aware of the discourse, and jokingly posted a robot emoji in response.
The hilarious conspiracy theory seems to imply that audiences are becoming unsettled by the CGI creations churned out by studios, particularly Disney, and are starting to get a bit paranoid.
For example, Luke Skywalker recently appeared in The Mandalorian, as a CGI recreation of young Mark Hamill, inducing happy tears in some longtime fans, and a spine-tingling sense of revulsion in others.
For Goldstein, the theory must be flattering, to some degree; surely, being compared to a CGI creation means that he looks good on camera.
Although, I’m not sure what it says about his acting.
