Buckle up, there’s a transfer of power happening for the characters on The Morning Show, and the start of its fourth season suggests that it will take fans on quite the ride.

The top of the latest installment in the hit Apple TV+ series kicks off with a time jump, with two years between Season 3’s cliffhanger, where Alex Levy(Jennifer Aniston) blew up the Paul Marks deal, instead orchestrating a merger between UBA and NBN, and for good reason. Now, the characters are questioning the future of the newly formed UBN network, the role of artificial intelligence in the newsroom, amid other unexpected and unsettling changes, such as venturing into the podcast realm.

Also, there’s a shift in power dynamics, with the women leading the charge. Levy is at the helm of an all-female-led executive crew that includes Greta Lee’s Stella Bak and newcomer Celine Dumont, portrayed by Marion Cotillard.

The women are in charge

“The women have kind of been knocking on the door, trying to get power for three seasons,” The Morning Show showrunner Charlotte Stoudt told Blavity’s Shadow and Act in our recent cast and crew interview.

“So, we wanted to say, ‘Well, what happens if they get it? What is it going to look like?’ And it turns out to be just about as complicated as it was for the men on the show, and a little bit of a ‘Be careful what you ask for.’ I think leadership in general reveals. It’s very revealing, and you have to look at how you’re leading and just like accept your flaws and really see that. No one walks into these jobs and does them perfectly, and it’s extremely humbling to see you’re sort of very exposed, and I wanted to put the women through that. Even though they might each have a very different attitude toward what it is like to have power, some people may be like, ‘Thank God, and just do everything my way.’ Other people may go, ‘Well, I’m just using this as a cover for the thing I really want. Then, another person might say, ‘I don’t want this job at all. I just felt I had to take it.'”

What is the North Star for these characters?

The end goal for many of the characters is quite different from what it was in the past, but one commonality is the idea of absolving themselves of karmic debt.

“It’s an interesting season for Chip, because he is finally free from UBN, and he’s just this independent documentary film producer with a more relaxing lifestyle,” Mark Duplass said of his character. 

“But he finds himself drawn back in through this conspiracy that he discovers with Bradley Jackson, and as to why does Chip feel so deeply compelled to get this, right? I think there are some karmic debts from the past, you know, not the least of which is, you go all the way back to Season 1, and you look at Chip who tried his best to do right as the leader of that ship, but really fell asleep a little bit on that watch, with the whole Mitch conspiracy,” he continued. “I think that some of the things he’s discovering, along with Bradley, are things that did also occur under his watch when he was back there, and I think he wants to get it right this time. I think now we see he’s got such intense personal relationships with these people involved, not only with Alex, but with Bradley, as well, who he spends a lot of time with this season. So, it’s not only the moral and ethical thing to do. He’s very personally invested in getting this right. So what starts out as, ‘Hey, I’m just an indie documentary producer; this shouldn’t be as stressful,’ actually becomes one of the more stressful and involved storylines for him by the end of it.”

For Nestor Carbonell, Yanko’s mission statement ultimately becomes a decision that involves two very different forms of love.

“He’s having to choose between two different kinds of love. A deeply passionate one that is very mercurial, that can burn you at certain times, with Claire, and then he’s having one that feels a bit more pragmatic,” Carbonell said. “There’s still love there, but I think, for him, it’s just trying to figure out what’s the right choice. Is there a right choice? Either way, it’s a difficult one. That’s what I love about what Charlotte Stoudt and the writers have done. …introduce this dilemma that, you know, if you’re lucky enough to fall in love, multiple times, and with those two different kinds of love specifically, what is the right path for you? I think that’s something that a lot of people can relate to.”

Season 4 of The Morning Show premiered on Apple TV+ on Wednesday. New episodes release weekly until the finale on Nov. 19.