KAREN PITTMAN

The Morning Show

Producer Mia Jordan is the voice of reason holding everything together on Apple TV+’s behind-the-scenes drama — but even she can’t escape the chaos that unfolds around her. That’s never more clear than in the second season’s eighth episode, when rumors of former host Mitch Kessler’s (Steve Carell) sudden death make their way to the production staff. As she works to confirm the story, Mia is challenged to honor her personal connection to Mitch, with whom she had an affair before he was fired in the first season for sexual misconduct.

“She is the architect of separating fact from fiction,” says Pittman, who notes that Mia has the chance to control the narrative of her relationship with Mitch despite what her colleagues may think of it. The episode was “fertile ground” to delve into her character’s nuanced emotions. “She’s griefstricken but can’t really fall apart,” Pittman says. Mitch’s death — coinciding with an explosive tell-all book about the goings-on at the fictional daily news show that’s about to be published — gives Mia an opportunity to manage her grief by honoring the man she has lost.

“She knew the real Mitch,” Pittman explains. “The world has never gotten to get him, and how tragic and sad is that? I just really, really wanted to do justice to the character because we had done so much work in season one to show that she cared about her job, she cared about this man — and for it to end that way, you can imagine how devastating that would be for somebody.”

Karen Pittman on The Morning Show