There’s nothing we love than a behind-scenes-glimpse of our favourite TV shows, and Morning Wars (known as The Morning Show everywhere that’s not Australia) is no exception. Luckily for us, Jennifer Aniston delivered.
The star and co-executive producer—she plays morning show host Alex Levy on the hit Apple TV show—posted a bunch of BTS pics to Instagram in the lead up to the show’s season two finale.
“Goodbye for now to my [Morning Show] family,” she wrote. “We made it. Crawled to the finish line… and I could not be prouder of each and every one of these extraordinary actors, a crew that you can only dream of, and directors that held my hand on quite a wild journey of emotions 😵💫😩🤗🤕🤣🤬🤩… to say the least. Thank you guys for being part of the ride. That’s a wrap, baby!”
It’s sentimental. It’s sweet. It’s almost enough to make you forget that Morning Wars‘ second season didn’t go in quite the direction fans were hoping.
Aniston photos included some of her co-stars, including Reese Witherspoon (who plays co-host Bradley Jackson, as well as executive producing the show with Aniston), Nestor Carbonell (who plays weatherman Yankko Flores) and Deason Terry (who plays news reporter Desean Terry).
In another pic, an emotional-looking Aniston was lying on the ground. A long night of filming, perhaps? Or just saying goodbye to the season?
“We had a little bit of a dark blanket over us,” Aniston told marie claire Australia in our exclusive October cover interview with the star, referring to shooting season two. “But that was what the season was about, so it lent itself to what we were doing.”
She said it was tough to film against the backdrop of the pandemic, with COVID restrictions forcing social distancing.
“One of the great things about doing a show is [that] your crew is your family,” she said. “But we were all separated this time. So it wasn’t the joyful creative experience you’re used to. I missed seeing everyone’s faces.”
Rather than behind-the-scenes pics, Witherspoon chose to shout out the season’s directors on Instagram ahead of the finale.
“Here are some of the visionaries who brought this season to life,” she said. “Can’t believe tonight is already the FINALE!! So much gratitude to EVERY member of our cast & amazing crew for making all the magic happen!”
The first season of Morning Wars was a triumphant success, using the #MeToo era to explore both the complexity and complicity of workplace sexual harassment. Season two grappled with what comes next when people try to move on with their lives, but through in a few, slightly muddled conversations around race as well as the coronavirus pandemic. It was still high production, but definitely hit a few soap-y notes.
SPOILERS BELOW
A key storyline that was off-putting to some fans was the focus on disgraced former Morning Show co-anchor Mitch Kessler (Steve Carell), who fled to Italy after being exposed as an alleged sexual predator.
We saw his character attempt to reconcile with who he was as a person, while struggling to face up to the extent of his actions. In a heart-stopping episode, he dies after driving his car off a cliff.
“I thought it would be interesting to have him acknowledge [his actions] and let it into his body and brain, and have to live with it,” showrunner Kerry Ehrin told The Hollywood Reporter.
“And really not be able to escape from it. That was a certain type of torture, and I thought that was an interesting thing to witness. The challenge of it was to not dip into sympathy. To not be like, “Oh, poor Mitch.” We never exonerated him. We never say this shouldn’t have happened to him. And I think that his performance is so, so beautiful because the actor is so aware of that all the time. He plays it right in the right spot. And I think it’s really great.”
You can watch both seasons on Apple+.
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