{"id":83864,"date":"2025-09-25T01:27:08","date_gmt":"2025-09-25T01:27:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/83864\/"},"modified":"2025-09-25T01:27:08","modified_gmt":"2025-09-25T01:27:08","slug":"the-morning-show-women-are-nakedly-ambitious-in-season-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/83864\/","title":{"rendered":"‘The Morning Show’ Women Are ‘Nakedly Ambitious’ in Season 4"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\t[This story contains mild spoilers from the first two episodes of The Morning Show<\/a> season four.]<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tA looming question faced the writers on The Morning Show going into season four. Surprisingly, it wasn\u2019t how the timely media drama would predict the results of the 2024 presidential election (which wouldn\u2019t come until after the show wrapped filming). It was more basic than that, yet still as chaotic.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWhen you really blow up something, as we did at the end of season three \u2014 I mean, we just set off bomb after bomb<\/a> \u2014 it\u2019s like, how are you gonna get the band back together in a way that is at least marginally credible, and that you can actually buy?\u201d showrunner Charlotte Stoudt<\/a> tells The Hollywood Reporter of that task at hand \u2014 particularly, making sure her co-leads\/executive producers Jennifer Aniston<\/a> and Reese Witherspoon<\/a> could share the screen after their split path in the season three finale.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe third season ended with a major coup<\/a> for the network at the heart of the media drama, as Alex Levy (Aniston) prepared to steer the merger<\/a> between two of the media\u2019s biggest rival brands. But as Alex readied to take her rightful seat at the table, Bradley Jackson (Witherspoon) was facing possible federal punishment after turning herself in for the role she played in a Jan. 6-related cover up.<\/p>\n

\n\tWith the first two episodes of season four now streaming, viewers are beginning to see how Stoudt and her writers room unraveled their Bradley knot, and upped the ante for every other female character. \u201cBradley did do her time, just in an unexpected way,\u201d explains Stoudt of Bradley\u2019s current predicament (she made a deal with the FBI, trading her freedom for information on Paul Marks, Alex\u2019s tech titan ex-boyfriend, played by Jon Hamm<\/a>).<\/p>\n

\n\tBelow, Stoudt (who spoke with THR ahead of season four\u2019s release) dives into the biggest debates in the season four writers room while also sharing Marion Cotillard\u2019s casting story, clarifying that Boyd Holbrook\u2019s radical podcaster is not Joe Rogan (\u201cNo, not exactly\u201d), explaining why they brought back returning star Bel Powley and diving into the \u201cnaked ambition\u201d for all of the women in Apple TV+\u2019s Emmy-winning series: \u201cIt\u2019s fun to hear them just say the quiet thing out loud.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t***<\/p>\n

\n\tWe last spoke right after season three, and then again when you were starting to plot out season four<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tGod knows if it made any sense or came to fruition!<\/p>\n

\n\tIt did, very much so! With The Morning Show, you\u2019ve always tackled serious and timely topics, but it\u2019s also beloved for its soapiness. I\u2019m feeling less of the latter this season. Do you feel like entertainment is less heightened now, because everything in reality is so heightened?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tI don\u2019t know if we think of it in those terms. For us, it\u2019s always where the characters are in their journey towards being more integrated or more whole and intentional as people. This season was where the story led us, and what we were very interested in. The issues always have to meld with the emotional lives of the people. When we were starting in this season four writers room, it looked like the [U.S.] presidential race was going to be a rematch with these two fairly old guys [Biden and Trump]. We were like, \u201cWhy does America need daddy so much? Why can\u2019t America move on from daddy?\u201d And pick your daddy \u2014 either one, they\u2019re still kind of daddies. That led us to think, in a very literal sense, about parents. We had been thinking about how we talk about who Alex is, how she became the way she is. And it felt time to see what that family was like and learn a little about her history [by casting Jeremy Irons and Alex\u2019s dad, Martin Levy<\/a>].<\/p>\n

\n\tYou joked at the end of season three that you always write yourselves into a corner with The Morning Show\u2018s cliffhanger finales. When you returned to the room, what was the easiest to figure out and what was the hardest?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tThe easiest was something we\u2019ve been wanting to do, which was to bring back Claire [played by Bel Powley] in some really instrumental way where she could drive the story. Claire\u2019s desire for revenge, for justice; and Claire being outside the institution was something we always wanted to get back to. I wouldn\u2019t say that was easy, but it was sitting there because we were so interested in her. When you really blow up something, as we did at the end of season three \u2014 I mean, we just set off bomb after bomb \u2014 it\u2019s like, how are you gonna get the band back together in a way that is at least marginally credible, and that you can actually buy? That was the biggest challenge: how are we going to get these people walking down the same hallway again so they can run into each other?<\/p>\n

\n\tYou don\u2019t outright tackle the 2024 presidential election<\/a>, even though the season opens in spring 2024; instead it\u2019s in the backdrop throughout this season. Was there anything you had to crash in, in terms of real news stories, like you did with Roe v. Wade last season<\/a>?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tNot that much, actually. We were in the transition from Biden to Kamala [Harris as the Democratic Party\u2019s presidential nominee] while we were just starting to film, but that was a perfect case where that wasn\u2019t really the story we were telling. We weren\u2019t doing an election story. So even though that happened, it was kind of not relevant to the journey we were on.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tAlex Levy (Jennifer Aniston) and Bradley Jackson (Reese Witherspoon) reunite at The Morning Show in season four.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tApple TV+<\/p>\n

\n\tYou did promise that Reese and Jen would be together on screen again, despite where you left them. You could have gone a lot of ways. How big was that debate in the room? Did you have other options you were closely considering before landing on how Bradley would make her way back to The Morning Show?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tIt all goes back to the core of both women. One woman believes you can improve things by being on the inside of the system, and one woman is highly skeptical of that. That is a conversation and argument they will have until the end of time: How to change things, how to make it better, how much can you attach yourself to mainstream money and power and still have independence and the ability to report accurately? That\u2019s going to be an argument they\u2019re going to have until they\u2019re 85.<\/p>\n

\n\tDid you consider following Bradley into prison?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tWhat we tried to do \u2014 without spoilers \u2014 is to show that Bradley did do her time, just in an unexpected way. I think we had that idea early on that her incarceration would take an unlikely form. Bradley doesn\u2019t have to be behind bars to have judgment. She judges herself extremely harshly. That was a key part. I think between seasons three and four, she\u2019s been living in a sort of self-imposed exile in a lot of ways.<\/p>\n

\n\tYou set this season up to ask the big question: When you give the women the keys, can they do better than the men? Broadly, would you say they handle power better? <\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tI think they do a little better in the sense that even if they develop some awareness of their biases, that is a victory. A lot of people in power just double down. They don\u2019t go, \u201cWhat am I doing wrong, or what could I do better?\u201d Even as showrunner and having some power and trying to be a leader is enormously exposing. It\u2019s a vulnerable job; you are confronted with your shortcomings on a daily basis and you have to keep going, even if you maybe didn\u2019t call that one right. Certainly, Alex can reflect. She can learn. I think they can all learn from their mistakes. That is one thing you can really say about these women. They really try to do that.<\/p>\n

\n\tAcross the board \u2014 Alex, Bradley, Celine (Marion Cotillard)<\/a>, Mia (Karen Pittman), Stella (Greta Lee) and Chris (Nicole Beharie) \u2014 all of the women on this show are seeking empowerment, power, or a second chance. They are all are elevated this season; very badass in their quests. Did this feel like a peak season for your female characters?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tThere was a bit of wish fulfillment when you write these stories. It\u2019s fun to see women be nakedly ambitious. <\/strong>It\u2019s fun to hear them just say the quiet thing out loud, and be really mouthy and push back. I really delight in that. Things will happen in our lives and we bring them into the writers room, and my advice when something terrible happens is to find a way to get it on the page. It\u2019s very, very cathartic. Whether it be your mother or an executive saying something to you, like \u201couch,\u201d you can write it in. That is the fun of writing television. Or when you think of that great comeback, but you think of it a week later, we\u2019ll just put it in the script.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tCeline Dumont (Marion Cotillard) and husband Miles (Aaron Pierre).<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tApple TV+<\/p>\n

\n\tMarion Cotillard joins this season in a key role. Did you have her specifically in mind for this part as savvy media operative Celine Dumont [whose husband (Aaron Pierre), it\u2019s been revealed, is having an affair with Stella]?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tI had imagined this character as someone who was not American, who could be a little different than the other women in power. There isn\u2019t just one kind of woman seeking power, and women don\u2019t all seek power the same way. They have different motivations. I wanted this woman to exist very much in contrast to the women we already knew on this show. Then we found out that Marion was a big fan, and we went straight to, \u201cOh, gosh, how can we get you to come to this? How can we sweeten the pot?\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tMarion had such a strong point of view right away. She mentioned these dynastic families in France who never elevate the daughters; only the sons. [Her character] Celine looks at her brother and says, \u201cWhy can\u2019t I do all the things he does? Why not?\u201d This question of, \u201cWhy can\u2019t women do all the things men get away with when they\u2019re empowered?\u201d It\u2019s like, who decided this? Marion is also quite mischievous and playful. I liked the idea that she would come in and you would see Stella [Greta Lee], who is very sincere about women and progress, compared to Celine, who has a different way of dealing with pressure than the ladies we know.<\/p>\n

\n\tDid you bring her on in a long-term capacity, or is this a one-season story you\u2019re telling?<\/strong> [Note: The Morning Show has been renewed for season five<\/a>.]<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tI never say never. With all the characters, unless they\u2019re dead, there\u2019s always, who knows? In my mind, they still exist somewhere in the world of TMS, even if they\u2019re not on screen.<\/p>\n

\n\tA major theme you tackle this season is AI. I imagine it\u2019s tricky when writing to know if the story will still feel fresh when it airs. But it does. When tackling deepfakes and the impact it has on your characters, did that provoke interesting conversations in the room and with your cast about how the industry should be engaging with AI?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tAI is a massive, massive complex topic, so we tried to ask: How are people genuinely using it in newsrooms? Start there: what is our world thinking about AI? What is the world of journalism thinking? With all of our stories, unless the topic can bring out something emotionally resonant and challenge a character on a very personal level, then it doesn\u2019t belong in the season. What happens when tech becomes a way to look in the mirror and ask: Who am I really? And, am I on the right path? There are many, many things we could have covered that we didn\u2019t, that are in the world and are incredibly urgent.<\/p>\n

\n\tYou began the season with this high-tension moment of Alex saving an Iranian athlete who wants to defect. This season keeps up that intensity in every episode I\u2019ve seen so far. How does the ending set up another season?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tCertainly, I don\u2019t think these characters have finished their journey. They haven\u2019t quite learned enough about themselves yet.<\/p>\n

\n\tThey always need to learn more\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tThey do. Being a human is a really complicated thing!<\/p>\n

\n\t***<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Morning Show is now streaming its first two episodes of season four on Apple TV+, with new episodes releasing weekly on Wednesdays.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"[This story contains mild spoilers from the first two episodes of The Morning Show season four.] A looming…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":83865,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[265],"tags":[55695,18,117,19,17,6292,48523,439,40664,128],"class_list":{"0":"post-83864","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-charlotte-stoudt","9":"tag-eire","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-ie","12":"tag-ireland","13":"tag-jennifer-aniston","14":"tag-jon-hamm","15":"tag-reese-witherspoon","16":"tag-the-morning-show","17":"tag-tv"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83864","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=83864"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83864\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/83865"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=83864"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=83864"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=83864"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}