Ahead of Ted‘s season two premiere, Peacock touted the show as its “most-watched original title” ever. Its sophomore outing proved a hit with both critics and viewers alike. And none of that will likely ever lead to a third season of Ted for one pretty logical reason. Show creator and voice of Ted Seth MacFarlane says the Ted series costs way too much to make.
MacFarlane spoke to The Wrap about a possible third season of Ted following the show’s season two premiere. It seems it will be the last for the hit series, as MacFarlane says there are currently “no plans” for another. He said Universal and Peacock told him “the show is really expensive to produce and there’s no way to do it at a lower cost.” He then wrote the season two finale with that in mind. It ends with Max Burkholder’s teenage Johnny deciding to get in shape, with MacFarlane saying the implication is that he’ll emerge from the gym as the buff version of Johnny, played by Mark Wahlberg in the two Ted movies.
How expensive is too expensive? MacFarlane said that because of the CGI needed to bring Ted to life, each 22-minute episode is like making an Avengers movie.
But despite MacFarlane adjusting to the economic realities faced by Ted, Peacock hasn’t officially cancelled it yet. If it were to renew the show, MacFarlane says they’ll be forced to do some creative “narrative acrobatics.” (That doesn’t sound like that big of a challenge.) But he’s not done with Ted no matter what. He’s already working on an animated sequel series for Peacock. It takes place after Ted 2. The show will see Walhberg, Amanda Seyfried, and Jessica Barth returning to the franchise to voice their characters.
If Ted season two and the animated series prove big hits with viewers, the streamer might decide the reportedly $8-$10 million dollar per-episode cost for the live-action show makes both sense and cents. We’ll see if Ted season 3 ever becomes a reality.