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‘The Morning Show’ Team Offers Few Hints For Season 2, Addresses Steve Carell’s Future On Apple Series – TCA

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“We’re just beginning,” said The Morning Show star and exec producer Reese Witherspoon.

However, the cast and creatives of the Apple TV+ drama offered few hints about the second season of the show during its TCA press tour panel.

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Witherspoon was joined by co-star Aniston, who also exec produces, Billy Crudup, director and exec producer Mimi Leder and exec producer Michael Ellenberg on the panel.

“I feel like at the end of this ten episodes, there’s a whole new world order. It’s chaos. No one knows who is in charge and what leadership means at this point. I think that’s what we’re exploring in the culture right now as it goes topsy turvy, what is the new normal? I’m excited that we’ve got a lot more to explore,” added Witherspoon.

Will Steve Carell return as Mitch Kessler in season? The Office star was on a one year contract, although showrunner Kerry Ehrin has previously said that she would like to bring him back. Ellenberg, who said that the team has read the first two scripts of season two, said, “You’ll see about Mitch. We’re exploring it. There’s no update yet.”

The show, which launched in November, took an inside look at the lives of the people who help America wake up in the morning, exploring the unique challenges faced by the women (and men) who carry out this daily televised ritual. Ehrin serves as showrunner and executive producer alongside Leder, Aniston and Kristin Hahn through Echo Films; Witherspoon and Lauren Levy Neustadter through Hello Sunshine; and Ellenberg through Media Res, which serves as the studio. Brian Stelter consults on the project, with his book Top of the Morning providing additional background material.

When asked how the show had performed and whether Apple had shared any ratings data, the panel were unsurprisingly tight-lipped. Witherspoon said, “They’re happy”, while Aniston added, “Word of mouth has been lovely. We’re thrilled with the response to the first season.”

There were a few edgy moments on the panel, which marked Apple TV+’s first debut at TCA. Witherspoon addressed the [SPOILER ALERT] death of Gugu Mbatha-Raw’s character Hannah after one critic expressed disappointment in the storyline for a woman of color, while there was an uncomfortable back-and-forth between Leder and a critic after the director had previously said she thought that some bad reviews for the show’s first three episodes were down to “Apple haters”.

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