EXCLUSIVE: Hannah Waddingham reveals the compliment that Jason Sudeikis gave her that made her 'emotional'

Hannah Waddingham is reflecting on the end of "Ted Lasso" — and why it was important to have Jason Sudeikis by her side every step of the way.

In a preview clip from her upcoming interview with TODAY's Willie Geist on Sunday Sitdown, Waddingham recounted the story behind how she was cast.

Willie said he had heard Sudeikis say in an interview that he had a "vision" of who should play Rebecca, the owner of AFC Richmond who initially hired Ted Lasso as the team's coach with villainous intent but gradually becomes one of the show's heart centers.

Waddingham revealed that Sudeikis once told her, “I saw Rebecca first. And then I had to get to know Hannah.”

"It made me very emotional when I heard him say it, because he doesn't give compliments lightly," Waddingham told Willie. "That was just gorgeous."

Like their characters, Rebecca and Ted, Waddingham and Sudeikis have since become friends. Waddingham attended Sudeikis' charity show in Kansas City in November 2023, and they sang a duet of "Shallow." Then, Sudeikis and the rest of the "Ted Lasso" crew crashed Waddingham's Apple TV+ Christmas special, which premiered a few weeks later.

Waddingham told Willie that "Ted Lasso" is Sudeikis' "baby," and she's "never worked so hard" to hear Sudeikis' approving "uh-huh" on set from behind his character's mustache.

"Just that 'uh-huh,'" she said with a laugh. "It doesn’t matter who else is there. It kinda didn’t matter who was directing."

In addition to Sudeikis, Waddingham said the cast was "spoiled senseless" due to the talent in the writers' room, which included Brendan Hunt, who also starred as Ted's best friend Coach Beard, Brett Goldstein, or Roy Kent, and Phoebe Walsh.

But, "the buck stops" with Sudeikis — and while filing the third and final season, Waddingham said she wanted the "Ted Lasso" star and creator to be there when she did some of her final scenes.

"I used to go, 'Is Jason — is he filming? Is he filming? Can we just wait a little bit? Is he around?'" she told Willie. "Because I wanted to get that ending right with him."

This isn't the first time Waddingham has commented on their special relationship. During her first Emmy win in 2021 for outstanding supporting actress in a comedy series, she also thanked Sudeikis who saw something in her.

"When somebody sees something in you, like I’ve had very few points in my career elsewhere, you don’t want to let that person down, you know?" she told Willie.

Season Three of "Ted Lasso" ended in May 2023 after much confusion over if it truly marked "the end" of the beloved comedy series.

The finale episode saw Ted return to Kansas to be with his son, but the fate of the characters in England was left open-ended, leaving many fans to hope for the possibility of a spinoff.

Waddingham appeared on TODAY Nov. 13 and when asked about the future of the show, she said she would "love" for it to continue.

"But, I mean, one thing’s for sure," she said. "Unless the man himself is down with that, then it’s not for me."