Ted Lasso season four welcomes a whole new cast of characters, but not before bidding a proper farewell to those who helped make the series a massive success.

The first episode, which is out now on Apple TV+, sees the return of Jason Sudeikis, Hannah Waddingham, Juno Temple and Jeremy Swift. Brendan Hunt and Brett Goldstein are expected to return in forthcoming episodes.

The fourth season of the Emmy-winning feel-good comedy — about Ted, an optimistic American football coach (Sudeikis), who’s hired to coach a British men’s soccer team — picks up in Kansas City, where Ted returned to be with his family at the end of season three.

Warning: potential spoilers for Ted Lasso **season four to follow **

Despite now working as a grocery store clerk, Ted is still the same relentlessly upbeat person he’s always been. At the end of his shift, he receives a surprise home visit from Rebecca (Waddingham), Keely (Temple) and Higgins (Swift), his former AFC Richmond colleagues, who try to convince him to return to England to coach the club’s newly launched, second-division women’s team.

Due to the major plot twist, the original stars who portrayed the men’s soccer team in the first three seasons do not appear in season four.

This includes a slew of fan favorites: Toheeb Jimoh’s Sam Obisanya, Cristo Fernández’s Dani Rojas, Phil Dunster’s Jamie Tartt, Kola Bokinni’s Isaac McAdoo, Billy Harris’s Collin Hughes, and Nick Mohammed’s former AFC Richmond assistant coach-turned-rival-West Ham United coach, Nathan Shelley.

In the final scene of season four’s premiere episode, as Ted sits in his Kansas City home office, wrestling with the idea of either taking the new coaching position or turning it down, he looks up at his wall of AFC Richmond memorabilia.

Front and center is a picture of the entire men’s team, surrounded by smaller photographs of Nathan excitedly jumping into Ted’s arms during one of the matches, Roy Kent (Goldstein) raising his fist in celebration, a picture of the team’s mascot, Earl the greyhound, and a snapshot of pub owner Mae Green (Annette Badland) giving the camera a middle finger.

Ted then glances down at his desk at a newspaper clipping announcing Jamie Tartt’s departure from the team, written by fictional The Independent journalist Trent Crimm (James Lance).

The sweet nod to the former castmates appears to inspire Ted to text his estranged wife and son, asking them to join him on his new adventure.

Upon his return to London later this season, Ted will reunite with his former assistant coach, Willis Beard (Hunt), as they take on the challenge of leading AFC Richmond’s Lady Greyhounds. Joining the coaching staff is the stone-faced assistant coach, Alice Chilton (played by Sex Education’s Tanya Reynolds), who will offer Ted and Beard a fresh perspective as the team’s only female coach.

Making up the key players of the women’s team are Faye Marsay (Game of Thrones), Abbie Hern (Peaky Blinders), Jude Mack (Prime Target), Aisling Sharkey (Jurassic World: Dominion) and Rex Hayes.

New episodes of Ted Lasso air Wednesdays on Apple TV+ until the season finale, slated for October 7.