The Emmy Award-winning series The Morning Show has added William Jackson Harper to its season four cast. Emmy and Tony Award nominee Harper (pictured below) has been cast in a major recurring role. He will play Ben, the network's confident and innovative Head of Sports.
The Morning Show explores the cutthroat world of morning news and the lives of the people who help America wake up. Season three once again left the fate of UBA up in the air after Alex (Jennifer Aniston) managed to take out Paul Marks (Jon Hamm) by blocking the sale of UBA to his tech company Hyperion. But now it appears UBA will merge with another media company to keep the network afloat, which could lead to layoffs and restructuring in season four.
Reese Witherspoon, Billy Crudup, Mark Duplass, Nestor Carbonell, Karen Pittman, Greta Lee and Nicole Beharie also star. Marion Cotillard, Jeremy Irons and Aaron Pierre debut alongside Harper in season four.
The series' third season recently received 16 Emmy Award nominations, including Outstanding Drama Series. The series also received ten acting nominations – the most for any drama series this year – with Aniston, Witherspoon, Beharie, Pittman, Lee, Crudup, Duplass, Hamm, Holland Taylor and Marcia Gay Harden all recognized for their performances.
Witherspoon and Aniston produce The Morning Show, developed by Kerry Ehrin, along with director Mimi Leder (under a multi-year overall deal with Apple TV+) and Michael Ellenberg.
Media Res is the studio along with Hello Sunshine, a Candle Media company, and Echo Films. Charlotte Stoudt, who has a multi-year deal with Apple TV+ to create scripted television series, is showrunner and executive producer.
Harper stars alongside Jeff Daniels and Diane Lane in the Netflix limited series A Man in Full, produced by David E. Kelley and Regina King. He is perhaps best known as Chidi on the NBC comedy series The Good Place, a role that earned him his first Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Male Actor in a Supporting Role for a Comedy Series in 2020.
Other roles include HBO Max's romantic anthology series Love Life (2020), Peacock's dark comedy mystery series The Resort and the Prime Video limited series The Underground Railroad.