Tom O'Brien is a recurring character featured in the Apple TV+ show, Ted Lasso, and a goalkeeper for AFC Richmond. He is seen with other team members and even participates in group activities such as karaoke and dancing in clubs. He usually hang out with other players such as Kukoč, Paul Reynolds, Jeff Goodman, and Tyler Shannon.
Before the match at Everton F.C., Tom tore his hamstring for three weeks which Ted Lasso referred to as he "tore his butt" despite his protest. Ted is commenting how Coach Beard had also torn his butt three times so Tom shouldn't worry. Thierry Zoreaux takes over in place of Tom against Everton. He hasn't played in any game ever since and still sitting on the bench with other inactive players like Arlo Dixon. Six months later, Ted sarcastically asks him about his butt, which he ignores.
During the 'ghost cleansing' ceremony at their treatment room, he throws a pair of goal-keeper gloves to the bin before they take it out and set it on fire outside.
He seems to be interested with Bantr app when Keeley Jones asks the football players to use it.
During the Trick Plays meeting, he suggested "Hadrian's Wall" as one of the elaborate set pieces.
When Jan Maas criticizes Thierry for not catching the ball from Brentford F.C., Tom seems to agree with his assessment despite Thierry's protest. He prays with other players in panic and then accidentally bumps Nathan Shelley very hard as he runs to the field to celebrate the club's win against Brentford.
When Zava joins Richmond, just like every team players, they are very smitten and in awe to see the superstar player in the locker room. Tom seems in euphoric when Zava touches him as a way of greeting, and when the new player brings so many goals, he and the rest of the players are following his lifestyle by doing some meditations.
During a match against West Ham United F.C., Thierry manages to hold up West Ham's goals until he can't when Armando scores a goal for his club and wins the half-time. Unfortunately, West Ham has a strong defense and the coaches showed them a video of Nate ripping off the BELIEVE sign, which results them to anger and anarchy as the players starts to play dirty and chaotic in the match. Many of them attack or provokes the West Ham players, even physically fight them. Thierry bumps an opponent player named Black very hard, and he gets a red card, so Tom replaces him as a goalkeeper for the rest of the match, but the damage is done and they lost the game.
Richmond visits Amsterdam for an Exhibition Match (Friendlies Match) against AFC Ajax, Ted tells everyone to have fun in Amsterdam for the whole night to lift their spirits except Jamie Tartt because coach Roy Kent yells at him not to have fun but instead doing some training with him. When Roy yells next to Tom, he is visibly startled.
Tom asks whether he should delete a Coprophilia picture
The team spend the whole night arguing, discussing, and voting where to go and what to do, when they finally decides to play pillow fights at the lobby of their hotel. In the morning, Tom and the team's spirit are lifted and they go home to England with a better mood.
When there are many nude photos of celebrities are leaked on the internet, the team discusses whether they should delete their photos from their phones. Tom asks is it okay to delete a naked woman picture who is involved with a Coprophilia sexual act which makes everyone yells at him to delete it. It's not until Sam Obisanya informs that their friend Keeley Jones's pictures are among the leaked ones and now are spread all over the internet that Tom decides to delete his own pictures and not arguing anymore.
Tom is one of the tallest players in the AFC Richmond with Paul Reynolds, Jeff Goodman, Thierry Zoreaux, Tyler Shannon, Jack Dawkins, Jan Maas, Gareth Canterbury, Babatunde, Tommy Winchester, and Zava.
FIFA 23[]
In the video game FIFA 23, Tom has a overall note of 75 and have potential of 79. It is also revealed that he joined the team on July 1, 2019 with a release clause amounting to €10,9M and his contract is valid until 2023. Tom has a value of €5,5M and earn a salary of €12,000.
Notes[]
- According to actor and creator Jason Sudeikis during the 60Minutes interview, Tom O'Brien was named after writer-director Mike O'Brien, a comedian known for his work and the creator of NBC Comedy series A.P Bio.
- There is a surge of popularity for the character from social media such as Twitter and Tumblr for Tom being expressive during interactions with other characters in the background.
- In the first two episodes of season three, Tom only appeared a few seconds each because during the filming, the actor had COVID-19 and was quarantined for a month.