‘The Morning Show’ Books William Jackson Harper for Season 4
The Morning Show is expanding its sports desk.
The hit Apple TV+ series starring Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon has booked another star for season four. William Jackson Harper — the Emmy- and Tony-nominated actor beloved from The Good Place — has been cast in the role of Ben, who is described as the self-assured and innovative Head of Sports at the show’s fictional TV network.
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The Morning Show‘s new cast continues to grow. Already announced are Oscar winner Marion Cotillard, as savvy operator Celine Dumont; Jeremy Irons as Martin Levy, the father to Aniston’s Alex Levy; and Genius: MLK/X star Aaron Pierre, in a guest role, as an acclaimed visual artist.
Rachel Marsh (Unstable) and John Hoogenakker (Dopesick, Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan) also joining in recurring roles, with Marsh playing Alex’s new assistant Remy and Hoogenakker playing play an FBI agent named Andy (pointing to, perhaps, where the show left of with Witherspoon’s character).
The show’s starry ensemble includes Billy Crudup, Mark Duplass, Nestor Carbonell, Karen Pittman, Greta Lee, Jon Hamm and Nicole Beharie. Julianna Margulies won’t be returning for season four, but THR previously reported could return for a future season. (The series has yet to be renewed beyond season four.) Season four is currently in production and doesn’t yet have a premiere date.
The Morning Show explores the cutthroat world of morning news and the lives of the people who help America wake up in the morning, and ended on another big cliffhanger with its third season. That season — spoiler alert! — ended with an eleventh-hour coup from Alex Bradley (Aniston), as she outsmarted her love interest Paul Marks, played by Hamm, and will attempt to steer their fictional network UBA, and fictional morning show, TMS, into a post-merger era. The Elon Musk-inspired tech billionaire was sidelined by the merger, and the revelation forced the pair’s break up — but the creative team was plotting how to keep Hamm among the ensemble.
As for where Alex’s forever partner-in-crime Bradley Jackson (Witherspoon) will end up, showrunner Charlotte Stoudt and Witherspoon recently told THR that the series plans to again jump ahead two years when it returns and that, even though Bradley is facing a felony charge, who knows what consequences will bear out.
When season four opens, The Morning Show will catch up to 2024. Alex will be in charge and some of her TMS co-workers will be elevated with her. “Alex comes in, saves the day, the merger happens, and then we’re going to see a couple years down the line just how easy, or not, this undertaking has been,” Aniston recently teased to THR. “We reenter the world mid-chaos. She doesn’t know what the outcome for Bradley is going to look like. However that character comes back in, we’ll see how that affects Alex’s war plan. Because she loves her, but not enough to sacrifice the big picture.”
Witherspoon echoed, “Bradley walks into that building [to turn herself in] and there are a hundred things that could have happened. We’re sort of weighing and measuring each one.”
Developed by Kerry Ehrin, The Morning Show is executive produced by Aniston and Kristin Hahn through Echo Films; Witherspoon and Lauren Neustadter through Hello Sunshine, a Candle Media company. The series is directed and executive produced by Mimi Leder, who executive produces and directs under a multi-year overall deal with Apple TV+, and is executive produced by Michael Ellenberg and produced by studio Media Res. Stoudt has a multi-year overall deal with Apple TV+ for scripted television series.
Harper’s most recent credits include Netflix’s limited series A Man In Full, Max series Love Life, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania on the big screen and Broadway’s Uncle Vanya. He is repped by UTA, AC Management, Jill Fritzo PR and Jackoway Austen.
Marsh is repped by QUEST Entertainment and Management and TheKohner Agency. Hoogenakker is repped by Stewart Talent, Industry Entertainment & Hanson, Jacobson and Teller.
July 25, 1 p.m. Updated to include Marsh and Hoogenakker castings.
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