Warning! This article contains spoilers for The Morning Show season 2
The Morning Show's executive producer has teased plans for season 3. Returning to Apple TV+ in September, The Morning Show season 2 continues after the explosive events of the first installment, with the series’ titular morning news program recovering from the chaotic departure of Mitch Kessler (Steve Carell) and the big changes that follow. In a storytelling decision that divided audiences, the season takes place in the recent past and explores the very beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In another shift from The Morning Show season 1, the drama’s two lead stars were on largely different tracks and shared relatively few moments together. Alex Levy (Jennifer Aniston) spent whole episodes reeling from the fact that Mitch was exposed as someone who has repeatedly committed sexual assault, given the fact that she had a previous intimate relationship with him. As for Bradley Jackson (Reese Witherspoon), she was largely been focused on conflict within her own family and her new relationship with Laura Peterson (Julianna Margulies).
Apple TV+ has yet to renew The Morning Show for season 3. However, after the premiere of the season 2 finale, executive producer Kerry Ehrin spoke with Deadline about what fans can expect if the series does return for a third installment. “My instinct is there will be a time jump,” Ehrin noted. She also discussed what might be in store for characters like Alex, Bradley, Laura, and the scene-stealing Cory Ellison (Billy Crudup). Ehrin’s full quote is included below.
“I definitely want to see more of Bradley and Laura. I feel like Alex has come to a place for the first time since the pilot of accepting who she is and facing her worst fears, and I want to see how the phoenix rises from the ashes for her, and learning how to have a full life and be present and loving. I know these don’t sound like big, hooky plot points, but this is how I begin a story: I begin from what I see inside the character and what I want to experience next with them, and I feel like Alex deserves that at this point. I’m curious where the fate of UBA is going. I love the Cory-Stella relationship. I think they are a great story about sort of the transition of the old world and the new world, and I think they’re both just such rich characters, and I’m excited to see how they develop.”
Particularly in its last stretch, the The Morning Show season 2 takes some big swings. Mitch, after being outed as a serial predator, falls into a depression over being “canceled” and appears to take his own life by driving off a cliff. Alex, who is COVID-positive in the penultimate episode, is also worried about being canceled due to her association with Mitch. As indicated by Ehrin’s remarks, The Morning Show season 2 ultimately decides to dismiss the public outcry against Alex and she finds herself in a better place — though she does this without ever really coming to grips with how she condoned and enabled Mitch’s behavior for years.
It was undoubtedly bold of The Morning Show to present one of its ostensible leads in such an antagonistic way. But the fact that it worked on any level speaks to the drama’s secret weapon: its stellar casting. Though critics and fans alike have noted the story’s glaring shortcomings, especially in its insistence on finding sympathy for Mitch, they’ve also agreed that The Morning Show has remained highly watchable due to its talented performers and new additions, such as Greta Lee’s Stella. That will look to continue in The Morning Show season 3, if it happens. And with the possibility of a time jump, the Apple TV+ hit will move past its dramatization of the very real and very recent real harms of COVID-19, which will be a relief to many viewers.
Source: Deadline