NEED TO KNOW
Things aren’t looking up for The Morning Show crew.
Apple TV+ released the hit drama’s official season 4 trailer on Wednesday, Aug. 20. Per an official synopsis from the streamer, the new installment picks up “almost two years after the events of season three.”
“With the UBA-NBN merger complete, 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?”
Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon, Billy Crudup, Karen Pittman, Nicole Beharie, Nestor Carbonell, Mark Duplass, Greta Lee and Jon Hamm return for the 10-episode run. Newcomers Marion Cotillard, Jeremy Irons, Aaron Pierre, William Jackson Harper and Boyd Holbrook are joining the cast as well.
Apple TV
The trailer’s dramatic start, aided by Halsey’s “Castle,” sees Witherspoon’s character, Bradley Jackson, noting she’s “a firm believer in second chances.” And with that in mind, she’s hoping to make things “right” at The Morning Show’s network, UBN (formerly UBA).
“This is a reset,” says Aniston’s Alex Levy, who is seen posing on a cover between Lee’s Stella Bak and Cotillard’s Celine Dumont. The cover in question reads, “New Paradigm or Glass Cliff? UBN’s New Leadership Talk Mergers, Streaming and the Future of News.”
“A different company, a different culture,” Alex continues.
“We promised real change to push the stories we cared about,” adds Lee’s Stella, as a glimpse of Crudup’s network CEO Cory Ellison is shown walking, appearing glum in the face.
Apple TV
We then see Pittman’s producer character Mia Jordan, as she notes to a room of network that “people need to feel that UBN is gonna have it first and they’re gonna have it right.” But that stance doesn’t appear to resonate with Cotillard’s Celine, who bluntly says, “A nice idea, but it’s not sexy.”
The big shift in the network’s focus is also addressed, as Mia questions UBN being pitched “as a feminist utopia where women lift each other up.” We soon see that it isn’t a reflection of what’s actually going on behind the scenes, as Alex later questions if Mia just left their heated conversation with “some kind of a threat.”
But that is not even half of the drama that’s unfolding at the show’s troubled network, with Crudup’s Cory even noting how “it sounds like the drama at the network is juicier than the drama on the network.”
At one point, Witherspoon’s Bradley reveals that the network, when it was still named UBA, “was involved in a cover-up,” and “people died” as a result. She then asks Duplass’ Charlie “Chip” Black to “work with me” to get to the bottom of this.
“I’m shutting the story down,” says Alex, though Bradley hits back, saying, “I have to do this, whether you like it or not.”
Alex soon realizes that “someone is trying to set me up,” which is a moment that comes after we Hamm’s tech billionaire character Paul Marks (who had a fling with Aniston’s Levy in season 3 that halted after she learned of his plans to buy UBA) saying to her, “Is that Alex Levy causing trouble again?”
The trailer shows glimpses of an FBI raid, someone running as an alarm sounded and Bradley being escorted somewhere by authorities. “The truth is incendiary, and it’s under attack,” says Mia.
As the trailer concludes, fans get a glimpse into an intense conversation between Aniston’s Alex and Witherspoon’s Bradley.
“Isn’t that why you did all of this?” Bradley asks Alex. “The cleaning of house? To make this place better?”
To that, Alex declares: “You can’t clean a house if you’re about to blow it up!”
Apple TV
Last month, Aniston told PEOPLE exclusively what fans can expect from the all-new season.
“The Morning Show is just a beast to film. It is layered, it’s complicated, it’s emotional, it hits on a lot of topics and current events, so let’s just say, it’s not Friends,” she shared.
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The LolaVie founder, who also produces the show alongside Witherspoon, notes that filming the series “takes a lot out of you.”
“We’re involved in every single aspect of the show, on top of just the performance side, which is a big piece of it,” she added. “But I’ve got incredible support, and we have such an incredible team.”
Season 4 of The Morning Show premieres on Wednesday, Sept. 17 on Apple TV+ with the first episode, followed by one episode dropping every Wednesday through Nov. 19.
