‘Ted Lasso’: Brett Goldstein Calls Roy Kent a ‘Cauldron of Emotion,’ Which Explains His Surly Voice

Roy Kent is a seemingly angry man in the fictional Apple TV+ series Ted Lasso. But writer and actor Brett Goldstein has a good reason for why his character is as gruff as he sounds. Find out why Goldstein calls the character a “cauldron of emotion” and how that description impacts Roy Kent’s surly voice in Ted Lasso. 

Brett Goldstein’s colleagues say he is the ‘sweetest most gentle man’

During an interview with 60 Minutes, Ted Lasso co-creator Joe Kelly spoke about Goldstein’s personality outside of his role. “[His character] is very gruff [and] angry, [so] it’s always jarring when you call Brett and he answers the phone,” Kelly said, mimicking Goldstein’s typical voice. 

“He is the sweetest, most gentle man,” Kelly added of his Ted Lasso colleague. In the past, Goldstein was accused of being CGI by Reddit, the birthplace of many a conspiracy theory. But in a September 2021 post to Instagram, Goldstein squashed the CGI rumors once and for all. 

“I am a completely real, normal, human man who just happens to live in a VFX house and does normal human basic things like rendering and buffering and transferring data,” Goldstein said in the post. He used a Memoji filter over his face — for posterity of course.

In reality, Goldstein couldn’t be more different than his Ted Lasso role. But the actor has a good reason for why Roy sounds the way he does.

Roy Kent is a ‘cauldron of emotion’ according to Brett Goldstein 

It’s almost impossible for Ted Lasso fans to think of Roy Kent without hearing his infamous grunt. During his 60 Minutes interview, Goldstein explained that Roy Kent is “a cauldron of emotion” that he wants to keep hidden from the world.

“He has been raised in a culture of almost toxic masculinity to be a f****** wall,” Goldstein elaborated. “He has all these feelings and these emotions but he cannot express them all [and] has to keep them pent up, which is why he talks like he talks because he’s holding it all in.” 

As the actor previously explained to Vanity Fair,: “[Roy’s voice is] a manifestation of the fact that he is covering feelings that he cannot let out. He has to keep his voice almost like a cork and hold everything down. Because if he let it out, he’d be a wreck. You know what I mean?”

Roy Kent actor doesn’t find ‘Ted Lasso’ as ‘warm and fuzzy’ as most fans 

Though he is a sweet man beloved by his colleagues behind the scenes, the Ted Lasso star doesn’t understand why most people describe the Apple TV+ series “warm and fuzzy.”

“I love the love that you see for Ted Lasso, but there’s also … a kind of simplification of the show,” he told Vanity Fair. He cited people who haven’t seen the show and base their opinions on what others say. 

“[The show is] incredibly dark and difficult,” he added. “I am always surprised when people say it made them feel warm and fuzzy inside. [Ted’s] wife left him. The team got relegated. Rebecca’s been in a horrifically abusive marriage. It’s really dark.” 

Still, despite all of that, Goldstein believes Ted Lasso is about people “being their best selves in difficult circumstances.” 

Watch the first two seasons of Ted Lasso on Apple TV+.