The Morning Show will be making a fall return.
Season four of the Emmy-winning series starring Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon will release Sept. 17. The 10-episode season launches that Wednesday, with the first episode, followed by a weekly Friday release through Nov. 19.
The fourth season will again time jump to open nearly two years after the events of season three and, along with news of the return date, the Apple TV+ drama has released a handful of first-look photos to tease both the new and returning cast.
The Morning Show expanded its cast for season four. Alongside stars and executive producers Aniston and Witherspoon, newcomers Marion Cotillard, Jeremy Irons, Aaron Pierre, William Jackson Harper and Boyd Holbrook have joined the cast. Returning stars include Billy Crudup, Mark Duplass, Nestor Carbonell, Karen Pittman, Greta Lee, Nicole Beharie — and fan-favorite Jon Hamm.
In the Morning Show‘s world, it’s now spring 2024 and the UBA-NBN merger is complete. Per the season four logline, the newsroom “must grapple with newfound responsibility, hidden motives and the elusive nature of truth in a polarized America. In a world rife with deepfakes, conspiracy theories, and corporate cover-ups — who can you trust? And how can you know what’s actually real?”
When speaking to The Hollywood Reporter after the last finale, showrunner Charlotte Stoudt acknowledged that the writers “caused themselves a lot of problems” with the major cliffhanger that ended season three, but promised that, even though she set her starring women on very diverging paths, Aniston and Witherspoon would find ways back to one another for season four. “Because that’s the core of the show,” she said. “People appreciated that they’re together but not together. That’s the contradiction. Everybody has to face what they have to face. There is accountability, but it’s not bleak. Even when you have to be accountable for something, life can go on.”
Alex Levy (Aniston) had outsmarted the Elon Musk-ish tech billionaire played by Hamm who was attempting to acquire TMS parent network UBA. The coup led to the pair’s break up — leaving Hamm’s future on the series uncertain at the time — and gave Alex a seat at the table to steer the morning show into the merger with their rival news brand.
“Women taking their power back can backfire terribly or it can succeed unbelievably,” Aniston told THR at the time. “We reenter the world mid-chaos. She’s a bit of a pioneer, and she is kind of left alone on a buoy. Bradley’s not there. Cory’s [Crudup] not there. Paul Marks [Hamm] is not there. All of her touchstones. Alex might be stronger than she thinks in some areas, and it might reveal more deficits, weaknesses, internal struggles in other areas.”
Bradley Jackson (Witherspoon), meanwhile, was facing a possible felony charge for tampering with evidence and obstructing justice related to the investigation of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol (her brother, played by Joe Tippett, assaulted a police officer during the insurrection and Bradley, who caught the moment on camera, covered it up in her reporting, which forced her resignation). Bradley’s ex Laura Peterson, played by Julianna Margulies, won’t be back for season four.
“There really was no way out but the truth,” Witherspoon previously told THR of the moral dilemma for Bradley. “I think a lot people have been in that position, where there’s no way out but being honest. We never contemplated her trying to evade the truth. But also, she walks into that building [to turn herself in] and we don’t really know what happens next. There are a hundred things that could have happened.”
Mimi Leder, who directed the finale, teased at the time, “They blew up the patriarchy, what does that come with? They were both walking into their future, into the unknown. Alex feels relief, excitement, fear and fulfillment. Bradley has a lot of fear attached, but also relief. When you do the right thing, there’s a great gratification.”
The Media Res-produced drama is executive produced by showrunner Stoudt, director Leder, Michael Ellenberg and Lindsey Springer through Media Res, Witherspoon and Lauren Neustadter for Hello Sunshine, Aniston and Kristin Hahn for Echo Films, along with Zander Lehmann and Micah Schraft.
