Can't they just get along?
Although The Morning Show first hit Apple TV+ to generally negative reviews in the early episodes, critics had changed their tune by the time the finale rolled around. The show started slowly, but it had more than a few things to say about the entertainment industry and the power dynamics between men and women in the workplace. With The Morning Show Season 2 arriving soon on Apple TV+, fans are excited to see where the show goes next. So, here are the details we know so far, including the new trailer:
Starring Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon, and Steve Carell, The Morning Show began as a ripped-from-the-headlines drama. Alex Levy (Aniston) and Mitch Kessler (Carell) are an anchor team at the popular The Morning Show, who are suddenly broken up when Kessler is charged with sexually harassing the employees at their station, UBA. As the show frantically looks for a replacement, they land on conservative darling Bradley Jackson (Witherspoon), who becomes Levy's new co-host.
Although the show begins as a story of two women thrown together as frenemies trying to keep The Morning Show's ratings above water, it soon becomes a far more complicated narrative about who has power behind the scenes, and who can take that power away.
The Morning Show Season 2 Trailer
The folks at Apple TV+ believed in The Morning Show long before the streamer debuted in November 2019. As such, the company greenlit a second season even before the show's Season 1 debut that fall. Unfortunately, due to scheduling, The Morning Show couldn't take full advantage of this early renewal and did not start filming the new season until the beginning of March 2020, when it ran right into coronavirus pandemic delays.
But the show is now back on track, and the first trailer arrived on June 14, 2021. The new season looks to pick up just moments after Season 1 ended, as Alex and Bradley face the fallout from their choice to go public with the institutionalized sexism within their workplace and their industry.
The Morning Show’s full official trailer arrived on Aug. 23, only a couple of weeks ahead of the show’s September premiere. The new clip gives a taste of how UBA has handled the beginning of the new year in 2020 since Alex Levy’s departure at the end of Season 1... up until the moment it runs right smack into reality with the arrival of the coronavirus pandemic in March.
Meanwhile, the ripples from Mitch’s removal continue to echo, as the culture of UBA is now up for scrutiny not just in how it handles its female employees but the people of color who work there too. UBA’s executives need to brace themselves. The story’s only just begun.
The Morning Show Season 2 Cast
As filming for The Morning Show restarts, viewers have a better idea of who will be back for show's sophomore season. Most importantly, there's Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon. Both are set to return. But who else is coming back?
Gugu Mbatha-Raw will not; her character, Hannah, is dead. But even though Mark Duplass' character Chip Black was fired at the end of the season, he's on the list to return. So are Billy Crudup, Nestor Carbonell, Bel Powley, Karen Pittman, and Desean Terry. Tom Irwin has not been confirmed as returning as station president Fred Micklen, but Steve Carell will be back as Mitch for Season 2.
As for new faces, the most significant addition is Julianna Margulies, who will be introduced as one of the anchors at UBA News, Laura Peterson. Also with her comes actors Greta Lee as Stella Bak, a tech world wunderkind who has joined the UBA executive team; Ruairi O’Connor as Ty Fitzgerald, a smart and charismatic YouTube star; and Hasan Minhaj as Eric Nomani, a new member of the Morning Show team.
On top of that, Emmy Award-winner Holland Taylor will play Cybil Richards, the savvy chairwoman of the UBA board; Tara Karsian is Gayle Berman, a news producer; and Valeria Golino plays Paola Lambruschini, a documentary filmmaker.
The Morning Show Season 2 Plot Details
Season 1 was a corkscrew of plot twists. The first season started as a vaguely passable "older woman versus younger woman" industry "comedy." But over 10 episodes, it morphed into a story about women in the industry genuinely banding together against the men who oppress them. It ended with Alex and Bradley doing a live on-air version of Thelma and Louise's drive off the cliff, as they both revealed, live on air, the toxic attitudes of their station and how the top brass of their company lied to the public.
The new season will begin with the fallout from that decision by Alex and Bradley. Check out the official Season 2 synopsis: “Picking up after the explosive events of season one, season two finds the Morning Show team emerging from the wreckage of Alex and Bradley’s actions, to a new UBA and a world in flux, where identity is everything and the chasm between who we present as and who we really are comes into play.”
The Morning Show Season 2 Premiere Date
The Morning Show Season 2 will premiere on Friday, Sept. 17, 2021 exclusively on Apple TV+. The series will follow a weekly release schedule with new episodes arriving on Fridays.
The Morning Show Season 1 is streaming on Apple TV+.
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