Note: This story contains spoilers from “The Morning Show” Season 4, Episode 3.
“The Morning Show” lost one of its most pivotal producers by the end of Episode 3, but don’t worry, she won’t be gone for long.
The episode, titled “Tipping Point,” followed as Mia (Karen Pittman) went through a difficult day being let down by those around her while gearing up to interview for the position of head of news she’s been chasing for the past two seasons of the Apple drama series. After Alex (Jennifer Aniston) was caught in a battle with an influential advertiser, and Bradley screwed up while juggling the show and her secret investigation into a network coverup, Mia found herself with little support when she faced Celine Dumont (Marion Cotillard) and the board for her job interview.
But she was never going to get it, as the position was caught in a power struggle between Celine and CEO Stella Bak (Greta Lee). The chairman of the board ended up bending Stella to her bidding, after using the reveal of Stella’s affair with Celine’s husband as leverage. The twist led to a heartbreaking conversation between Mia and Stella that ended with the former quitting the titular morning news program.
“After you’ve devoted years of your life to a company and you understand that it’s not built for you — that the system is actually built against you to succeed — what do you do? You fall out of the system … you figure out another way to rise to the top,” Pittman told TheWrap.
While the dramatic ending certainly signals change for Mia, the character and Pittman will not be going anywhere. The trailer for Season 4 previously teased Mia walking down the halls of the program rocking a new hairstyle, which Pittman teased is a sign that the character is “coming back for blood.”
Below, Pittman talks with TheWrap about the big moments from Episode 3, what’s next for Mia and her hopes for Season 5.
TheWrap: How was it to go through the journey of this wild new season of “The Morning Show” as Mia?
Pittman: It was a lot of fun. I’d just finished filming “Forever” — like, literally one week I was filming “Forever,” the next week I was filming “The Morning Show.” It was a very busy 2024, and since we were nominated for a bunch of Emmys, everybody was leaning into the wind at that point. We were all ready to take flight and make Season 4 the best season ever.
The audience is going to see a lot of people at the top of their game. Charlotte really created a lot of beautiful storylines for everyone to have something to chew on.
Mia has been feeling the toll of two years of layoffs and broken promises by Stella and Alex, and then she loses the head of news job and finally snaps and quits. What drives her to walk away from the show?
In Season 1, she was holding it together on behalf of the whole workplace issues that they were having with Mitch Kessler. Then Season 2 was a pandemic, and she was holding “The Morning Show” together. And Season 3, it was a merger.
In Season 4, we start out with this relationship with Stella Bak and this promise that the writers had written into Season 3, which was when Stella becomes CEO, Mia is going to step up to head of news. So we start the season out with me talking about it like, “This is where we’re going. This is what you promised me. I’ve had other offers, but I’m ready to do it here.”
We start the episode out, and we see her ready to go for it. On her way up to this important interview with the board and with Celine, she loses Alex along the way. She has to shed Bradley along the way. But of course, her ace is still Stella. She’s the CEO. She makes all the decisions as far as hiring is concerned.
I don’t think Mia thinks it’s going to be easy. She’s going to have to show her stuff. But there comes that monologue where it really is like “this is what the truth is right now. This is what the news industry is.” It’s not about being sexy. This is the greatest challenge that journalism and news is going through in this country. But she loses her footing when Stella ends up getting her job as CEO undermined by the revelation of this affair.
We all know Aaron Pierre is cute, but come on now, it’s very much a rookie mistake. But it’s a mistake, nonetheless, it ends up undermining her ability to make this decision. This is probably not where Stella wants to end up, but she has ultimately undermined Mia’s ability to move forward by making this mistake. And she has to do as Celine wants her to do, and it’s an interesting experience just watching all these women fail.
Mia just ends up failing here, as she has worked so hard to keep things together for them. And I did talk to Charlotte about it very early on, when she was like, “Yeah, Mia’s going to quit and she’s going to leave.” I thought, well, it can’t be an emotional decision. It can’t be just about sadness. It can’t just be about revenge and being tired of it. There really does have to be a certain level of clarity. Suddenly she sees what the landscape is. After many, many years of being like, “I’m going to get my chance. I’m just going to hold on, I’m just going to wait. I’m going to see and be patient,” she realizes it doesn’t matter how good she is, it doesn’t matter how many degrees or how long she’s worked at the company, she’s not going to get there. She’s never going to get it.
Seeing that Stella isn’t going to pull her up. She realizes nobody will do it. And if nobody will do it you’ve got to let go. So she does.
We see Mia walk away in tears, but we know she’ll be back in some way with a great new hairdo and a new mission. What can you tease about where she goes next after this episode?
She’s coming back for blood!
Mia and Stella’s friendship seems to be shattered beyond repair by the end of this episode. How can Mia move past this betrayal?
I don’t think she does. And that’s the great part about Season 4. In Episode 3, I think Mia has decided that she’s going to take all of the work and the experience she’s given to “The Morning Show” and to UBN, and she’s going to leave.
And that was a very emotional moment with Greta, doing that “breakup” scene. The thing about working on “The Morning Show” is that they make it so visceral for you as an actor, and feeling the sadness and the disappointment that this character experiences in these moments … they really do give you this space where you can feel all the emotions viscerally of these characters and what they’re going through. It’s such a gift to work on this show, because the writing is so potent. It’s so alive all the time.
After you’ve devoted years of your life to a company and you understand that it’s not built for you — that the system is actually built against you to succeed — what do you do? You fall out of the system. You decide you’re not going to be in the system anymore, and you’re going to figure out another way to rise to the top. So we go more into that in Episode 5, which is such a fun episode.
During the interview with Celine and the board, Mia makes an impassioned speech about the truth being under attack in America — a theme feels especially prescient now. How did you approach bringing to life that moment from what was on the page?
As with most scenes on the show, we explored a lot of different ways of coming at it. That monologue was a little different as we were filming it, but it had this powerful statement about how the free press is under attack. Not because of the inability to tell the truth, but because of how people are coming after journalists, and how people are coming after television news, which, of course, we definitely do see. It’s a hallmark of this show.
They don’t really rip these stories from the headlines, although the stories that Mia mentions in that monologue are real stories and news. It just goes to show that the writers have their finger on the pulse of what is happening culturally. In doing that portion of the monologue, did I know it was going to be so resonant at the time? No. But I knew that it was an important theme for us in Season 4: What is the truth? Who’s giving you the news is as important as the news itself at this point … We started this show seven years ago, and it’s still painfully relevant.
The season takes place before the election, so it feels like another dimension compared to where we are in America today. How do you think the show will address the current moment now that we know it’ll be back for Season 5?
No idea. That’s up to Charlotte and the writers and the producers how they want to approach it, but I’m sure that they will do it in the most entertaining and compelling way they always have. I’m sure that there’s so much to dig into. I’m personally fascinated now more than ever, with what’s going on in the news and how people are covering the stories — news podcasts, “60 Minutes,” George Stephanopoulos and ABC. I’m fascinated to see what they come up with.
“The Morning Show” releases new episodes Wednesdays on Apple TV+.
