Just before season four of The Morning Show goes live, Apple TV+ has extended the show’s run.
The tech giant’s streaming service has ordered a fifth season of the drama starring and executive produced by Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon as anchors at a fictional TV network. The pickup comes hours ahead of The Morning Show’s fourth season premiere on Wednesday.
Showrunner Charlotte Stoudt and director/executive producer Mimi Leder are set to continue in those roles in season five.
“The Morning Show has been a standout from the very start, debuting as one of the flagship series on Apple TV+. It’s been incredibly rewarding to see it not only entertain but also resonate with audiences worldwide,” said Matt Cherniss, head of programming at Apple TV+. “Thanks to the outstanding cast and creative team — led by Jennifer, Reese, Charlotte and Mimi — The Morning Show continues to deliver addictively entertaining and provocative stories that we’ve all come to love. We’re excited for viewers to experience the next chapter of this Emmy-winning drama.”
Season four is set in early 2024, but Stoudt and Leder said at the show’s red carpet premiere last week that it won’t feature the presidential election as a central story line, with Stoudt noting that most of the season takes place before Joe Biden dropped his re-election bid in July. “We try to go at it sideways,” she told The Hollywood Reporter. “We don’t really have, directly, an election story, but we do touch on the idea of: Why were two older white men running for president?”
Along with Aniston and Witherspoon, season four’s returning cast inlcudes Billy Crudup, Mark Duplass, Nestor Carbonell, Karen Pittman, Greta Lee, Nicole Beharie and Jon Hamm, alongside new additions Aaron Pierre, William Jackson Harper, Boyd Holbrook, Marion Cotillard and Jeremy Irons.
“It’s an honor to witness the collective talent, passion and commitment of Jen, Reese, Mimi, Charlotte, our partners at Hello Sunshine and Echo Films, and everyone involved in The Morning Show, and we’re excited to embark on a new season that will give this cast and creative team even more room to shine,” said Michael Ellenberg, CEO of studio MediaRes and an executive producer of the series. “We are so grateful to Apple TV+ and the fans around the world who tune in every week, and are so excited for viewers to see this upcoming season and beyond.”
Stoudt and Leder executive produce The Morning Show with Ellenberg and Lindsey Springer for Media Res; Witherspoon and Lauren Neustadter for Hello Sunshine; Aniston and Kristin Hahn for Echo Films; and Zander Lehmann and Micah Schraft.