Ahead of its premiere in November, “The Morning Show” was touted as Apple TV+’s flagship program.
That’s because the tech giants spent $150 million on its ten episode first season, which revolves around Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon as hosts of a hugely popular news program that’s thrown into chaos when former co-host Steve Carell is fired after a sexual misconduct scandal.
But while there was huge hype surrounding “The Morning Show,” it was only met with average reviews with its tricky production, which saw Jay Carson replaced as showrunner by Kerry Ehrin just ahead of shooting, cited as the main reason for its unevenness.
So, with all of these issues in mind, fans are now wondering if there will actually be a second season of “The Morning Show.”
Luckily for them, Apple TV+ has such faith in “The Morning Show” that they confirmed it had been renewed for a second season just a few days after its first episodes had aired.
Aniston and Witherspoon, who are also executive producers on “The Morning Show” and were reportedly paid $2 million each per episode, are already hard at work on its second season, too, which will also consist of ten episodes.
Ehrin recently provided her own update on “The Morning Show’s” second season to Variety, remarking, “We have the shape of it. We’ve broken the first three episodes.”
She even detailed the current plan for the second season, insisting, “We’re writing the show now; we’ll film it this summer; and we’ll be on next November.” That’s a little different than director Mimi Leder’s schedule for the second season, though, as she told Indiewire that shooting will start in February.
Even though it is scheduled to premiere around the time of the 2020 U.S. presidential election, don’t expect the second season of “The Morning Show” to focus on the current political climate. Ehrin insists, “You can’t do current politics,” because the writing doesn’t feel as prescient by the time it actually makes it to air.
That means that there won’t be a Trump-like character on “The Morning Show.” The current Commander-in-Chief has still made an impact on the writers room, with Ehrin saying, “The president has an influence on all of us. Writers are absorbers of reality and interpreters, so in that sense. But it’s not like he’s a part of the storytelling at all.”
Ehrin has a plan for how to make “The Morning Show political,” though.
“So my idea is that if you deal with politics, you deal with political themes. I call it ‘current adjacent,’ where you’re not historically aging yourself by dealing with a specific thing, but you can take the zeitgeist of what is happening in the world and do something with those themes.”
One individual that won’t be returning for Season 2 is Steve Carell, who only signed a one-year deal. According to The Hollywood Reporter, “The Morning Show” is reportedly “searching for a high-profile male lead to replace” him.
We’ll get to see how “The Morning Show” deals with his departure when its remaining three episodes arrive on Apple TV+ on Dec. 6, 13 and 20.
