Jennifer Aniston as Alex Levy in 'The Morning Show' season four. Apple TV+ Share on Facebook Share on X Share to Flipboard Send an Email Show additional share options Share on LinkedIn Share on Pinterest Share on Reddit Share on Tumblr Share on Whats App Print the Article Post a Comment Logo text [This story contains mild spoilers from the first two episodes of The Morning Show season four.] A looming question faced the writers on The Morning Show going into season four. Surprisingly, it wasn't how the timely media drama would predict the results of the 2024 presidential election (which wouldn't come until after the show wrapped filming). It was more basic than that, yet still as chaotic. "When you really blow up something, as we did at the end of season three - I mean, we just set off bomb after bomb - it's 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?" showrunner Charlotte Stoudt tells The Hollywood Reporter of that task at hand - particularly, making sure her co-leads/executive producers Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon could share the screen after their split path in the season three finale. Related Stories Lifestyle Mariska Hargitay, Malin Akerman, Monica Lewinsky Set for Reese Witherspoon's Shine Away Event TV 400 Celebs Sign Open Letter Backing Jimmy Kimmel, Including Tom Hanks, Meryl Streep, Jennifer Aniston The third season ended with a major coup for the network at the heart of the media drama, as Alex Levy (Aniston) prepared to steer the merger between two of the media's 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. With 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. "Bradley did do her time, just in an unexpected way," explains Stoudt of Bradley's current predicament (she made a deal with the FBI, trading her freedom for information on Paul Marks, Alex's tech titan ex-boyfriend, played by Jon Hamm). Below, Stoudt (who spoke with THR ahead of season four's release) dives into the biggest debates in the season four writers room while also sharing Marion Cotillard's casting story, clarifying that Boyd Holbrook's radical podcaster is not Joe Rogan ("No, not exactly"), explaining why they brought back returning star Bel Powley and diving into the "naked ambition" for all of the women in Apple TV+'s Emmy-winning series: "It's fun to hear them just say the quiet thing out loud." *** We last spoke right after season three, and then again when you were starting to plot out season four. God knows if it made any sense or came to fruition! It did, very much so! With The Morning Show, you've always tackled serious and timely topics, but it's also beloved for its soapiness. I'm feeling less of the latter this season. Do you feel like entertainment is less heightened now, because everything in reality is so heightened? I don't know if we think of it in those terms. For us, it's 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, "Why does America need daddy so much? Why can't America move on from daddy?" And pick your daddy - either one, they're 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's dad, Martin Levy]. You joked at the end of season three that you always write yourselves into a corner with The Morning Show's cliffhanger finales. When you returned to the room, what was the easiest to figure out and what was the hardest? The easiest was something we've 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's desire for revenge, for justice; and Claire being outside the institution was something we always wanted to get back to. I wouldn't 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 - I mean, we just set off bomb after bomb - it's like, how are you gonna get the band back together in a way that is at least marginally credible, and that you can actuall