‘The Morning Show’ Season 3 Is ‘Juicier & Sexier’ Than Ever
Preview
“The show is much juicier and sexier than it’s ever been,” promises executive producer and director Mimi Leder of the third installment of Apple TV+’s The Morning Show, about the on- and off-camera drama at a national rise-and-shine broadcast news program. That’s no small claim.
From its first moments, The Morning Show—the series that helped make Apple TV+’s reputation as a streamer—has shocked and captivated. In its explosive 2019 debut season, popular TMS coanchor Alex Levy’s (Jennifer Aniston) longtime on-air partner Mitch Kessler (Steve Carell) was exposed for sexual harassment and replaced by ambitious and impulsive plucked-from-obscurity field reporter Bradley Jackson (Reese Witherspoon). The women eventually bonded, using their power to reveal the wider toxic culture of their employer, the UBA network, now led by egomaniac CEO Cory Ellison (Billy Crudup).
Last season saw Alex’s departure from the morning news program and her complicated return; Mitch’s death; and the COVID pandemic’s first days; it also covered other issues, such as sexuality, divorce and scandal. The story picks up two years later, in March 2022, and begins with back-to-back episodes. The headline driving the drama: With UBA having dropped big bucks on its streaming service, Cory looks to get in bed, figuratively (and Alex, literally), with a handsome Elon Musk–type entrepreneur (Jon Hamm) who has capital to spare. But there’s more ahead! Leder previews five stories.
Star Turn
Alex’s worth is higher than ever—and she knows it. (“I am unprecedented!” she boasts to Ellison.) Her show, Alex Unfiltered, the seeds of which were sown in the Season 2 finale when she documented her experience with COVID, has become a network-propping hit.
“She wants a seat at the table on the business side, but getting it might cost her more than she ever imagined,” Leder says. “She doesn’t trust Cory to change UBA for the better. She thinks of him as purely Machiavellian.”
Billy Crudup and Greta Lee in ‘The Morning Show’ Season 3 (Credit: Apple TV+)
Love or Money
Alex is training to join the maiden voyage of a suborbital space tourism rocket, the brainchild of super-rich entrepreneur Paul Marks (Hamm), whom Cory is wooing to buy a controlling stake in UBA. Broadcaster Alex and tech bro Paul have chemistry.
“Work is the only thing Alex can rely on to make her feel good, and then she meets Paul,” Leder says. “You want to keep things professional. We like to joke that there’s this triangle between Paul, Cory, and Alex. They’re fighting, flirting, negotiating. It’s intense.”
Jon Hamm as Paul in ‘The Morning Show’ Season 3 (Credit: Apple TV+)
Secrets and Lies
“Bradley is where she wants to be, [now anchoring the] evening news, being taken seriously as a journalist,” Leder says. She’s winning a journalism award, lauded for her coverage of the 2020 election and January 6, and has an awesome apartment. As for relationships, she’s not with Cory (he confessed his love for Bradley in the Season 2 finale).
We will see the return of her ex-girlfriend, anchor-reporter Laura Peterson (Julianna Margulies). But Bradley is soon in crisis and has to decide what to do about a scandalous secret that could ruin her reputation. Says Leder: “This season, we drill down to what these characters are made of, what they’ll do for their careers and families.”
Mimi Leder on set of ‘The Morning Show’ (Credit: Apple TV+)
Hack Attack
In the second episode, UBA’s network servers are hacked, and saboteurs remotely commandeer computers, causing an emergency shutdown in the studio.
“It’s chaos. People are screaming,” says Leder, who used handheld cameras to film the scenes. “That’s what the show’s always been about. People are composed in front of the camera, the cameras go off, and they’re complex. It’s interesting to see people lose their sh*t.” Information stolen during the hack has long-term effects on more than one person on the team.
Headline News
Sometimes the team doesn’t just report real-world news stories; they live them. A big one: COVID. The entire fifth episode rewinds to 2020 and we see what happened to the characters—where they quarantined and, more enticingly, with whom.
In the present, “One of the big issues this season is abortion rights,” Leder says. “It’s an issue that means a lot to Bradley. We see her struggling between being an objective journalist and her personal experience. We also look at minority rule and unelected people who wield outside influence. That question of who makes the rules is very urgent.”
The Morning Show, Season 3 Premiere, Wednesday, September 13, Apple TV+
This is an excerpt from TV Insider‘s September issue. For more in-depth, reported coverage devoted to streaming shows from the publishers of TV Guide Magazine, pick up the issue, currently on newsstands, or purchase it online here. You can also subscribe to TV Insider Magazine here now.
