Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Aniston are bidding an emotional farewell to The Morning Show ahead of its series finale.
Witherpoon, 50, shared “moments from our final scene” on The Morning Show via an Instagram carousel on Friday. July 31. One poignant photo showed Witherspoon embracing Aniston, 57, while filming for the Apple TV+ series while another featured a group hug with the two actresses and Mark Duplass, who plays their executive producer Chip Black on The Morning Show.
Witherspoon’s production company, Hello Sunshine, reacted in the comments section by describing the candid photos as “moments we’ll truly never forget.”
Earlier this month, Apple TV+ confirmed that the upcoming fifth season of the Emmy Award-winning comedy-drama series will be its last. Witherspoon and Aniston will reprise their roles as perpetually-embattled morning news anchors Alexandra “Alex” Levy and Bradley Jackson, respectively.
“The past nine years producing and acting in The Morning Show have been the honor of a lifetime,” Witherspoon said at the time. “This was always more than a show about a newsroom — it was a show about why the newsroom matters. About freedom of the press and the journalists who protect the fourth estate, often at great cost. Telling that story has been the creative privilege of my career.”
She went on, “Thank you to Apple for their unwavering support, to our visionary writers, our incredible crew, and our extraordinarily talented cast, who brought five seasons to life with a truth audiences believed every step of the way. It has been a stellar creative experience — one I will always treasure.”
Aniston — who executive produced The Morning Show alongside Witherspoon — celebrated the series’ ability “to tell stories that reflect what’s happening in the world around us with a twist of dark humor.”
“It’s been such a privilege to work with this insanely talented cast and our extraordinary writers, producers and crew. We’ve become such a family, and we’re all so excited to share this final season,” she added. “And going in knowing it would be our last, we were so fortunate to craft the conclusion with intentionality and honor these characters the way they deserve.”
The Morning Show reunited Witherspoon with Aniston more than a decade after she played Rachel Green’s younger sister Jill on Friends for two episodes in 2000.
The first season of The Morning Show dealt with upheaval at the fictional daytime news series TMS when Alex Levy’s (Aniston) longtime coanchor Mitch Kessler (Steve Carell) was fired for sexual misconduct, paving the way for field reporter Bradley Jackson (Witherspoon) to get an unexpected promotion. That initial story line took a ripped-from-the-headlines approach based on the #MeToo movement and the fall of real-life news anchors Matt Lauer and Charlie Rose.
The Golden Globe-nominated Apple TV+ series has gone on to tackle complex subject matter such as corporate influence on the news industry, the COVID-19 pandemic and even the imprisonment of journalists.
The Morning Show was adapted from author Brian Stelter’s acclaimed 2019 nonfiction book, Top of the Morning, by Friday Night Lights’ Kerry Ehrin and former House of Cards producer Jay Carson.
Apple TV+ has yet to announce a premiere date for The Morning Show season 5, but it is expected to air in 2027.
