The ever-shifting media landscape brings about big changes in the fourth season of The Morning Show
As has been the case in the previous seasons, The Morning Show left certain characters painted into a tight corner while for others the sky became the limit at the end of its third season. Bradley Jackson (Reese Witherspoon) was mere seconds away from turning herself in to the FBI for redacting news footage from the January 6 insurrection, in an attempt to save her brother from arrest, while Alex Levy (Jennifer Aniston) managed to facilitate a last-minute merger between networks NBN and UBA — a union of equals, so to speak — derailing the plans of her scheming love interest, billionaire Paul Marks (Jon Hamm), to acquire UBA.
Two years after the dramatic finale, is this new mega-network largely run by women the solution everyone hoped it would be? “There’s never an answer there, there are always more questions,” teases showrunner Charlotte Stoudt. “I think the women gaining power sits very neatly against the overall question of the show, which is: At what point do you lose your humanity in pursuit of your ambition? That’s always the tension of the show, truth and capital versus capitalism, ambition versus humanity. Now it’s time for these women to be careful what they asked for.”
Life is no less complicated for Bradley, who is still paying the price for her professional digressions. “At the beginning of this season, you don’t know where she is,” teases Witherspoon. “She’s not at the network anymore, and that’s basically all I can say. This is the first time you’ve seen her feeling a little cowardly and quiet, which was fun to play — vulnerable and a little stepped on.” Her relationship with Alex is also not as supportive as where we left it. “I’ve taken over this leadership role and I’m trying to see the bigger picture: Is this going to be a good thing for the network?” adds Aniston. “And she’s always doing something where you just don’t know what’s going to happen, because she’s a wild card. But we always come back. It’s a love story between friends, ultimately.”
Having become known for tackling current news as it happens, the series’ writers this year grapple with the use of artificial intelligence in news, as well as themes of diversity, equity and inclusion. Taking on a topical subject matter and hoping that it is still relevant a year later is not for the faint of heart. “There is some stress,” admits Stoudt. “You’re always worried you are going to miss something and we can’t chase the headlines because the show takes so long to make and edit. But these topics are resonant for many, many years. They’re the maze we haven’t figured our way out of, whether it be the reproductive rights of women, systemic, institutional racism and AI. We are not going to solve these questions anytime soon, so it’s a good time to wrestle with them.”
Stoudt and her writers always approach these themes with a character-first attitude. “Stella (Greta Lee) is a character who came out of the tech world, so it makes sense for her to be very interested in AI and what it could do for a news network,” says Stoudt. “But, underneath, Stella is a divided person. She’s doing things she shouldn’t be, and she’s trying to reckon with herself. And the AI becomes her mirror in which to do that. And she may not be the fairest of them all when she looks in the mirror.”
This season the cast is joined by Academy Award winner Marion Cotillard as Celine Dumont, who runs the new network alongside Alex and Stella. “When I knew the women would be finally running the C-suite, and I imagined a new character from the rival network, I kept thinking, ‘This is somebody with a foreign accent,’” says Stoudt. “I had a feeling that maybe she has some malapropisms and is a little bit different in terms of her femininity. Then we found out that Marion was a superfan of the show, and once she came onboard she talked about some of the dynastic families in France, and how often when power is passed down in those families, it always goes to the son. I said, ‘Oh, I see who this character is and what might be driving her. She’s rebelling against her family, but part of her is still wondering, ‘Hey dad, can you pass the crown to me?’”
With its breakneck-paced storytelling and A-list talent, those behind the scenes feel The Morning Show has really hit its stride in the past few seasons. “I think the first two seasons were fantastic, and when Charlotte came on, she upped the game with her writing, really going deep into trust and power,” says executive producer and director Mimi Leder. “Especially this season it’s, ‘Who can you trust? What is the truth?’ The world is evolving every second, and I think Charlotte and all of us feel it’s very important to have it reflected in our characters’ journeys.”
The Morning Show, streaming on Wednesday, October 1, on Apple TV+