While the first 9 episodes were screened in advance, for embargo reasons, story details will be restricted to Episode 1 “My Roman Empire”.

When The Morning Show first debuted as the launching series for Apple+ back in 2019, it immediately faced criticism over its questionable handling of the #MeToo era subject matter, highly fictionalized depiction of media companies, and its heavy air of self-seriousness. The second season barely faired better. Yet, despite its incredible flaws, there was just something inexplainable about it, whether its fascinatingly problematic elements or its ever-watchable cast, that kept some blood pumping through its veins. The definition of an odd guilty pleasure. Once The Morning Show finally steered away from the gloomy Mitch Kessler (Steve Carell) storylines and, in a way, hit the reset button for its third season, it allowed itself to be mostly free of the weight it was carrying and instead embrace total loony melodrama, unafraid to make ridiculous choices, and in the process, be the big, prestige soap opera it was meant to be. That season began with sending Bradley Jackson (Reese Witherspoon) to space and it ended with arresting her for being at the January 6th riots! It’s become a relief to have The Morning Show back, now in its fourth season, as we anticipate what absurdity this unpredictable writing team has in store for us and this time out, they’ve blessed us with A.I. panic, conspiracy theories, and so many affairs!

Of course, after a two-year flash forward, set during the preparation for the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, the big question on our minds was “where is Bradley Jackson?” Well, given her legal issues after last season’s dramatic J6 conundrum, she returns living in West Virginia and teaching community college courses only to be recruited once again by UBN, formerly UBA. The reasons of choosing Bradley are simple: she appeals to red-state viewers during an election year. The reasons of reaching out to Bradley are far more complicated.

UBN, now run by CEO Stella Bak (Greta Lee), is preparing to be the main broadcast source of the Olympics, testing new deep-fake technology to broadcast their interviews and coverage with the ability for automatic vocal translation in over 40 languages. Interest is peaking over at UBN, despite a stressed team, still feeling the effects of the recent merger. Post-merger, UBN has a new board president, Celine Dumont (Marion Cotillard). It is not a spoiler to say Cotillard is playing somewhat of an antagonist this season. Her vicious nature and scheming dialogue give it away in the first episode. Her casting raised great interest, adding Academy Award-winning credibility to prestige junk-food television. Cotillard, a superfan of the series, understands exactly what show she’s in, and even pulls the show into her own cooky orbit. In her very first scene, she exits an elevator and struts down the UBN hallway like like she just chugged a Red Bull. Her delicious line readings are as vamped as any campy Disney villain. Her performance is so wildly unrestrained, it only adds to the wonderful absurdity.

Stella, who went through a whirlwind transformation to take over UBN from Cory Ellison (Billy Crudup) is fully in her villain era as well, working alongside Celine to make every tough decision to stay ahead, even if it means damaging every genuine relationship she’s built. This begins to put a strain on producer Mia Jordan (Karen Pittman) as well as face-of-the-network Alex Levy (Jennifer Aniston), who is in charge of covering the Olympics. Alex, dealing with her own legal debacle after a situation with Olympic contestant, and TMS host Chris Hunter (Nicole Beharie), struggling to maintain a consistent relationship with her husband and daughter, are spread increasingly thin and desperately need the help. Their savior is Bradley, who is less convinced by Mia’s face-to-face offer than she is intrigued by a series of anonymous messages she’s been receiving about a potential cover-up by UBN (UBA at the time of the event). Knowing this is her chance to be a real reporter again, Bradley is back in action… and now undercover in her own All the President’s Men storyline.

New cast members this season include Aaron Pierre, Boyd Holbrook, William Jackson Harper, and Academy Award-Winner Jeremy Irons. Pierre as Celine’s hunky artist husband Miles Allam, who more-so has his eyes set on Stella, is a total dreamboat in a thankless role, a perplexing pairing for Cotillard, though he sizzles onscreen with Greta Lee. Boyd Holbrook plays “Bro” Hartman, the Joe Rogan-like conservative podcast host working under the UBN umbrella, sharing contentious space with Alex, who finds Hartman to be as repellent as he is alluring. Holbrook finds the right about of masculine charisma to make Hartman not totally intolerable. Meanwhile, Harper plays sports reporter Ben Rusch. A nice fit for the ensemble, though completely underutilized.

And then there’s Jeremy Irons as Martin Levy (yes, Alex’s British father). Levy is a college professor, soon to be Dean of his university, who has brushed a plagiarism scandal under his rug, though cannot beat his alcoholism. Irons is a bizarre choice for the role, though his incredible presence still adds such towering weight and his unsavory characteristics a match for Irons ability to channel hard-edged nastiness. Though at first he feels wasted in a role like this with little to do, Irons is given a lengthy, emotional sparring of words with Aniston later in the season that should guarantee him a Guest Actor Emmy nomination.

The entire season is filled with heightened stakes in nearly every episode, pulling every soap opera trope in the book in for a rollercoaster of a viewing experience, one best complete with a bottle of wine and a bowl of popcorn. Take nothing seriously and you will have a ball. If you demand your television to be strictly serious, find something else. The Morning Show has decided to not even try to be anymore, all for its benefit. This cast and this writing team isn’t afraid to go to some demented places and if that tickled you in the past, buckle up, and get ready for some juicy (as Cotillard’s Celine Dumont calls it) “fuck-clusters”.

The fourth season of “The Morning Show,” premieres September 17, 2025 on Apple TV+.