From Post Perspective 3/25/2026
Season 4 of Apple TV’s The Morning Show has given the show’s editors plenty to manage, with challenges ranging from the pressures of live television and breaking news to a large ensemble cast. This latest season finds its main characters adjusting to new roles after the failed network takeover in Season 3. Alex (Jennifer Aniston), now an executive and anchor at the newly branded UBN, is promoting the network’s upcoming Olympics coverage, while Bradley (Reese Witherspoon) teaches at a small college in West Virginia, and Cory (Billy Crudup) is trying — and failing — to make a feature film in Hollywood.
To cut the season’s eight episodes, the showrunners turned to editors Carole Kravetz Aykanian (401); Andrew Gust (402, 407); Sidney Wolinsky, ACE (403, 404, 408); and Blake Maniquis (405, 406). We spoke to all about their work and workflows on the series.
How early were you all brought in on this season? Was there a tone meeting? If so, were you asked to make any changes from seasons past?
Andrew Gust: I started working a week or two before we started shooting. Since this was Season 4, there were a lot of assets in terms of temp score, SFX, graphics and b-roll that carried over from season to season, so I came in early to help get a couple of the assistant editors up to speed on where all the bodies were buried. The scripts occasionally include scenes that involve footage from previous seasons (e.g., Season 3 started with a celebration video of Alex’s years on The Morning Show), so it’s important that we have quick access to everything.
There were tone meetings for every episode, which can be extremely insightful. The majority of the discussion happens between the writer, director and showrunner, but it’s also a chance for the editor to ask questions about character, story and overall style and mood of the episode. We were told this season was leaning further into thriller/mystery territory, and Episode 2 was described as a “paranoid thriller,” which was helpful to keep in the back of my mind as I cut scenes where Alex starts to unravel emotionally.
Carole Kravetz Aykanian: For Season 4, they block-shot the episodes. I cut Episode 1, and Andrew did Episode 2. I also cut Episode 9 and the finale. I was brought on when production started. We have tone meetings before each episode with our EPs, the writers, the DP and the first AD.
Sidney Wolinsky: I was brought on the show several days before my first episode began shooting.
Blake Maniquis: I was new to the show, so I had a lot to catch up on in terms of plot and relationships between characters. As soon as I started, I understood what was so appealing about the show: real issues caught up in the very messy but exciting lives of these characters.
We had the sort of tone meetings that I always crave — thoughtful and deep. They were actual tone meetings, as opposed to semi-production meetings. One thing that’s interesting about the show is that the scripts are very descriptive of the characters’ inner lives and thoughts, which is very useful to everyone.
Do you know what cameras were used to shoot the show?
Gust: For main unit they used ARRI Alexa 35s. Additionally, all the cameras that you see on-screen while they are onstage for The Morning Show are real cameras with real operators. Those cameras are Blackmagic cameras to differentiate the look. Then, of course, there’s a whole smorgasbord of drones, GoPros, iPhones, etc. for aerials and action sequences.
Were you keeping up with camera? How often were you showing the showrunners cuts?
Gust: On “normal” days, when they shot with an average of two to three cameras at a time, I was usually able to stay pretty close behind camera. For huge sequences with a ton of intercutting, like Episode 2’s protest in NYC, it was definitely a longer process. In that case, we had two to three main unit cameras and a drone, as well as background actors filming with at least half a dozen iPhones. It was a massive amount of footage, and that whole sequence took a very long time. Thankfully, we were block-shooting, so I would have days without dailies, when I could continue to catch up on everything. That was a lifesaver.
While we’re filming, the EPs are too busy to look at cuts very closely. When our showrunner Charlotte Stoudt is not on-set, she’s in the trenches working on the upcoming scripts. EP Mimi Leder will start seeing cuts a little earlier, when she’s in her director’s cut stage, but until production is finished, it’s difficult for them to spend much time in the cutting room.
Kravetz Aykanian: I try to keep up with camera, but it’s not always possible. Sometimes you get pieces of a scene and then the rest a week later. Big sequences with parallel cutting or long scenes at the teacup and the control room are shot on different days, and sometimes you can’t start editing until you have all the elements. Otherwise, I always try to keep up and create a rough assembly of each scene quickly because the real work starts when you can get a sense of the whole episode. The workflow on TV shows is faster than on features. I’ve developed a different approach to the work because of it.
Unless there’s a specific reason for the director or the showrunner to see a scene during production, they usually prefer to wait and watch the editor’s cut. After production, it’s difficult to assess because there’s no way to quantify how many times they watch the whole cut. Each episode has its own issues, and some come together more easily than others. Sometimes you cut a scene and it barely changes from the editor’s cut, and other times you work on a sequence over and over again. But our EPs watch cut scenes and whole episode many times, for sure!
Wolinsky: Sometimes I was up to camera, sometimes not. The showrunner watches one version of the director’s cut before the director’s cut is delivered, then the showrunner gives notes and sees the episode multiple times. The number of times will vary.
Maniquis: I am hardly ever up to camera, unless I need to be for feedback or VFX. I fall behind because I pay close attention to the dailies and my emotions when watching dailies. Those reactions sometimes are fragile, and they don’t reappear later, so I take time to watch thoroughly and write notes to myself in markers in the dailies stringouts.
This season starts out a bit differently, with Cory on-set in Hollywood and the chaos that comes with that brings. It’s a different chaos from the live show and even from the wheeling and dealing. Walk us through that.
Kravetz Aykanian: Episode 1 of every season has been a challenge because our stories never pick up where the season before ends. We must remind the audience where our characters were and in the same breath introduce where they are two years later. In each new season, we also introduce a slate of new characters who look like they’ve inhabited the TMS space for a while. This season was complicated because we had to establish that Cory was in Hollywood and present many new faces at UBN, with Celine Dumont ( Marion Cotillard) as the new board member; her husband, Miles (Aaron Pierre); Bro (Boyd Holbrook); Ben (William Jackson Harper), the new conservative podcaster; the head of sports; and Martin Levy (Jeremy Irons), Alex’s father. The new storylines were varied and complicated — a defection and escape, an affair, and a cover-up — all in one episode. And the episode had to flow in a way that made the storytelling feel natural, effortless, clear and entertaining while avoiding a sense of fragmentation, exposition and confusion.
I experimented with structure a lot before I found the ideal one. How can a scene flow naturally from the scene before, even if it’s unrelated? I always look for the unwritten connections between the characters. For example, whenever I can, I try to find ways to go from Bradley to Cory or vice versa because of their shared history. Sometimes I come up with simple inserts we can shoot to connect two unrelated scenes and make them feel like one breath. Score and songs are also of great help. That was the challenge of Episode 1 — bringing all the pieces together while welcoming the audience back to our new season.
Back in New York, the chaos remains, especially in the control room, with people talking over each other and a lot going on. How do you balance showing that reality with making sure viewers are following the story — especially in the scene where the tension is building around an airplane that’s attempting an emergency landing live on TV?
Gust: This time I defer to Sidney because he did the airplane episode. But it’s a balancing act, for sure. Those control room scenes are some of the most difficult because you’re tracking so many people at once. What’s playing out on live TV is really important, especially when our main characters are involved, but it’s equally (or more) important to see how everyone is reacting to it all. You can’t be everyone at once, so you need to be very intentional about who you’re shining the spotlight on at any given moment.
Not to mention, when you’re in the control room seeing all the monitors, you’re not only editing the character inside the control room but all the characters in the monitors at the same time. You have to constantly ask yourself, “Who is most important to focus on at this moment?” It takes a lot of heavy lifting and refinement to make those scenes look elegant.
Wolinsky: You have to play with all the elements you have — the plane in distress, the live video from the passengers, the principal and secondary characters. You have to keep them all involved in the action.
Kravetz Aykanian: There’s a balance to find when you cut these kind of scenes. Obviously, you have to honor the chaos, but each character and each line must have the space to exist. We often have humorous lines that need to play properly, so it’s really a matter of experimenting with rhythm until you can achieve tension, chaos, clarity and humor.
There are also some quiet scenes in which the people you don’t expect to show real emotion do, like Alex and her dad. She becomes a child again in those scenes.
Gust: Our main characters are all very ambitious regarding their careers, so their professional and personal lives are often very intertwined, and that’s when we usually get to see them with their guards down. Alex is someone who is at the top of the food chain at the network, so when someone like Bro isn’t intimidated by her, it is destabilizing, and we get to see her open up about her childhood. When the characters become completely vulnerable with each other, that’s when things get the most interesting.
Kravetz Aykanian: This is in the DNA of our show. We delve deep into our characters’ emotions, and when we do, we take our time. We’re blessed to have amazing actors who deliver incredibly powerful performances. In those moments, we honor the drama and cut the scenes with care and control. A simple breath or the blink of an eye can mean so much.
This season, as with the others, there is a lot of plotting and backstabbing. How do you go about editing the scenes where people are being who they truly are instead of pretending?
Gust: I think seeing a character’s reaction is often a lot more revealing than what they are actually saying, especially in this show. Cory, for instance, has all these fantastic monologues that he uses to get what he wants from people. But it’s those times when a character gets caught off guard or has a quiet moment alone that you really get to see behind the curtain. Finding those moments and letting them marinate is incredibly important. It’s where the truth lives.
Maniquis: When people are plotting and backstabbing, I try to show that that’s not all they are doing. For instance, in the scene where Bradley is on a date with Cory and she sneaks into his phone, she is lying to him, but she also really cares about him. It would be easy to show her at her most devious, but instead I tried to choose the performances where she was conflicted about lying to Cory. That is so much more interesting to me and to an audience. It’s deeper and more real.
Wolinsky: Whether or not characters are pretending, there is always a subtext. You have to be aware of that as you cut a scene.
The scene of Stella in the airport and the realization that Miles isn’t coming. There is no dialogue. Talk about making that scene work.
Kravetz Aykanian: The brilliant editor Blake Maniquis cut these scenes, and they kill me every time I watch them.
The way we approach those scenes is dictated by what the actors do. We take their lead and organize the progression of the scene, choosing how to build their performance and using the different angles we have to work with to achieve the most heart-wrenching moments. Reese and Billy have amazing chemistry. We take their cue.
Maniquis: That scene works because of everything that had gone before with Stella. We know what she had hoped for in her career and how it all went away. At the same time, we know from her scenes with Miles and her AI that she had deeper hopes for a principled life. So this scene is difficult, but she can turn toward the hopeful, and that’s where the tension lives.
When and how much Stella cries took some work. Without dialogue, her crying and then her determination to stop lets us into her mind. Bucking herself up shows that she has made a decision. Then, when she is walking past the gate and stops, she makes another decision — to get on that plane anyway. Calibrating those decisions was the bulk of the work in that scene. And getting the music right. Mimi asked for it to be heartbreaking while also allowing for hope.
The scene with Cory and Bradley, where she goes to his place and he knows she betrayed him, but she doesn’t know he knows yet. It’s just the two of them, and she knows there is no coming back.
Maniquis: Yes, Cory had the whole day to think about what to say to her, and yet he doesn’t bludgeon her. He also reveals how much he’s been hurt by her. That kind of writing makes us care about him. Same with the acting. As much as Cory tries at the end to convey that he is done with her, Billy Crudup makes sure we know that he really isn’t. His heart is broken.
In some ways, this was an easy scene to edit because the performances were so strong. By that point I could see how Billy narrows in on his reading, and how Reese sometimes experiments with ad-libs, so it was a matter of choosing the actors’ best performances.
But then again, it’s a long scene. You want to maintain suspense; you don’t want to go too hot too soon. You want to be fair to the characters and everything we know about them. You want to leave room for other things to happen. You want to show them at their most conflicted. You want to see under the words. The actors’ “best” reading of any particular line might give you that or it might not. It becomes about shaping, revealing, sometimes even obscuring. That’s when an easy scene can be not so easy.
You have to have a sensitivity for this work. And if you’ve got it, you need to protect it in yourself by knowing your habits, by taking proper notes.
There are so many storylines, and each character has a lot going on. How do you keep things organized? Do you call on your assistant editors for that?
Gust: As much as possible, I try to stay up to date with what is happening in other episodes. Reading other episodes’ outlines/scripts, watching early cuts if possible. Anything that fills in the bigger picture of the season is helpful while editing your individual episodes.
Within an episode, we’ll put up scene cards on the walls of our office so we can quickly reference where different scenes occur and discuss if it would be beneficial to restructure the episode in some way. The first conversations are always with our assistant editors (the wonderful Lauren Rossi, in my case), and once the EPs are in the cutting room, there is often as much discussion with them as there is actual editing. This season leaned into thriller/mystery, especially for Bradley’s storyline, and it was important not to get lost in the details. There’s a fine line between mystery and confusion. Mystery makes the audience lean in, but confusion makes them check out. At the end of the day, the showrunner is always making sure everything feels cohesive, but the editor helps carry that responsibility.
Kravetz Aykanian: Our assistants are amazing, and we couldn’t do a show like this without their numerous talents. I worked with Amy Pellouchoud on Season 4, and her calmness, strength, intelligence and highly organized skills made my work possible. So many questions come up on The Morning Show, and we have many lengthy and lively discussions. Sometimes our interpretations of the meaning of a line or an action differ, and the discussions that ensue help me understand things better or identify what the problem could be. Those discussions are probably the most satisfying interactions in the cutting room. I absolutely love them. I also have numerous discussions with the other editors. It’s very important to keep a singular vision, even if we are four editors. We watched each other’s episodes together, and that was very helpful.
This season we also had a swing assistant, Dana Saltoon, who happened to be a fan of the show and remembers every detail since Season 1. She was such a great help, as she was our The Morning Show encyclopedia!
So, yes, our show has many storylines, and keeping track of them is very important. In the last two episodes, the Wolf River storyline becomes the main thrust, so it was important to make sure that all the clues that were spread over all the other episodes were clear and memorable.
Maniquis: There are so many storylines! Too many to remember, even though we read all the scripts. One benefit of working in person is that we can just wander down the hall and ask one of the other editors or AEs what is going on in a later or earlier episode. In our case, the Wolf River plot was complicated and evolving even as we were shooting. So we asked Dana to create a document tracking the Wolf River plot and how each character is involved, which was super-useful.
And, of course, I’m always popping into my assistant editor Larissa James’ room to ask what, where, when and who.
Wolinsky: Story organization is done at the script level and refined during cutting. The assistant editor organizes the dailies for me to cut. My assistant was Richard Rossi, with whom I’ve worked for many years.
The show is known for having a good amount of VFX. Can you talk about working with temp VFX and the VFX editor?
Gust: This is definitely a show that has a lot of “invisible” VFX, meaning that the average viewer would have no idea that certain shots have been manipulated. Probably the most prevalent VFX shots in our show are all the window backgrounds. We’re a show that is set in New York, but 95% of it is filmed in LA. I’d say some of the most rewarding VFX for me as an editor are the ones where I am doing split screens to combine performances. Often we will have multiple people in the shot, and we might take one shot of Character A and two shots of Character B, so we’ll do a temp composite in Avid to get the best of both worlds. Alongside our VFX editors (Evonne Moritz and Jeff Ervin), and with the VFX resources we have on this show, we can composite some pretty complicated shots. It’s incredibly satisfying for an editor because you’re sort of creating a new interaction between characters.
Kravetz Aykanian: Our show is misleading. This season we had the opening AI with Alex, which was never meant to be the huge sequence it became. None of this would have been possible without our genius VFX supervisor, Eric Hayden, and his team. We’re so lucky to be working with him. We also have a huge amount of visual information to convey through text, TV screens, broadcast, etc. Some of the simple temp VFX — and some complicated ones too — were done by Amy, my assistant.
Maniquis: Eric Hayden did such an amazing job of not only making sure we always had the temps we needed to tell the story but with shooting our aerials. This is the first time I’ve been able to present an editor’s cut with all green- and bluescreens comped (by Evonne Moritz).
Wolinsky: The VFX in the show are primarily plates for the offices and apartments, all of which are sets with greenscreen windows or driving plates. We put them in during the editing process, but they have no effect on how a scene is cut.
What was the most challenging scene?
Gust: In terms of sheer hours spent on a scene, the protest sequence in Episode 2 easily takes the cake. In addition to the mountain of footage, it intercuts between multiple locations and characters all doing very different things, and we knew it needed to feel like a cohesive thought. We realized that all the action taking place wouldn’t mean much unless it was anchored in the perspective of our lead characters… in their shared goal of trying to find redemption. That sequence went through many iterations, with Mimi, Charlotte and Carole all giving a lot of feedback. It was actually written with a specific song in mind from a very famous band, but in the end, it felt like that song took away from the emotion on-screen, so we used much more subtle music that allowed us to focus on the characters. Sometimes less is more.
Kravetz Aykanian: For me, it’s the press conference in Episode 10, when we reveal that Cory was working with Alex and Chip (Mark Duplass) to expose Celine. The script wasn’t written that way. There was a flashback, but it was a very tiny one, which I felt was too small to be powerful. We needed a big “wow” moment in the finale. I decided to cut short the scene between Alex and Cory that takes place earlier and make the second half — Cory telling Alex that he has the EPA document from his mother — part of the flashback. We tried many different versions. I knew what emotion I wanted to create, but it was a long road to get there.
Maniquis: For me, the most challenging scene was in 406, when Stella’s AI goes rogue at the 024 presentation. First, Greta came down with a stomach flu on the day we shot that scene, so we could only get her in wider shots and had to shoot the close shots on another day in another location, without the other actors. So you lose the interactivity, and it becomes a puzzle not only to fit the new shots in but to tell the story you want to tell in a highly complicated scene.
Another challenge was how to get into Stella’s head. On the page, things played out pretty linearly: AI goes off the rails. Stella tries to recover. The reporter jumps in. The AI reveals the affair with Celine’s husband, Miles. But to show all of that linearly, you would be leaving Stella standing onstage doing nothing when she could just unplug the laptop that’s running the AI.
So it all had to be nonlinear, and events had to cascade over each other. This gets us into Stella’s head and lets us feel how she’s feeling: overwhelmed and paralyzed. We experimented with slowing it down, with a delay and “underwater” audio, but once we sped it up, it felt right. That’s when we had to make it all fit — all the AI lines, all the reactions from actors and audience, etc., so this was easily the hardest scene I had the pleasure of cutting.
Wolinsky: For me it was the plane landing in Episode 4.
What was your favorite?
Gust: I think my favorite scene to work on was in Episode 7, when Yanko (Nestor Carbonell) and Claire (Bel Powley) have a heart-to-heart about their past, and they become truly vulnerable with each other. Both of their performances were so strong, and I found a needle drop early on that I felt really complemented the mindset of the characters. Sometimes you find a song that really seems like it’s part of the scene, and it’s incredibly satisfying when it feels like an organic addition to the work that the actors are doing.
Kravetz Aykanian: I loved cutting the scenes at the opera in Episode 9. Having a real opera lead the rhythm of the cuts was probably one of the most satisfying things to do.
Maniquis: My favorite scene was the Cory/Bradley confrontation in 405 because of all the layers below the dialogue and those beautiful performances. It was always going to be a strong scene, and my job was to make it as heartbreaking and as powerful as possible.
Wolinsky: Cory and Bradley coming together near the end of Episode 3.
Assuming you all edited on Media Composer?
Gust: Yep. Among other strengths, I think we all really appreciate having ScriptSync on a big show like this. It’s invaluable, especially if you need to review takes quickly once you’re working with the directors and producers.
Were you showing each other scenes? Showing your AEs? How much interaction did you all have?Gust: Absolutely. My assistant editor is always my first audience. I usually watch with them once it’s ready for temp sound, etc. Carole and I showed each other scenes a lot too. She knows the show the most intimately, having really shaped the tone of the show ever since cutting the pilot in Season 1. Editors know that there is this magical thing that happens when you watch a cut with someone else in the room. All of its imperfections just jump out at you without anyone having to say a word. It’s crazy.
Kravetz Aykanian: We showed each other episodes, and I showed Amy my cut scenes when they were ready. Her feedback was important to me.
Maniquis: Yes, and that was invaluable to me. Larissa was my first sounding board, and I always asked her to give me her first, honest reactions. Then Carole, Sidney and Andrew were very generous with their time and honesty by watching the early editor’s cuts of these episodes. I’m often more nervous about other editors watching my work.
Wolinsky: I would show cuts to Rich, my assistant.
Andrew, you started on Season 3 as an assistant editor and then got bumped up to editor. Can you talk about that process?
Gust: I had been assisting Carole for a couple years prior to Season 3, and during that time, she really became a mentor to me. I was also able to gain her trust as a creative partner in the cutting room. When she signed on to Season 3 of TMS, she told me there could be an opportunity for me to be more involved creatively. Carole usually does Mimi’s episodes, which tend to be the most ambitious, so part way through Season 3, when we needed to catch up with some of the dailies, I started assembling quite a bit of Episode 6 on my own time.
Carole also had to spend some unexpected time in France, and so she asked Mimi if she would be open to me co-editing Episode 6. I had spent a good amount of time around Mimi and Charlotte leading up to that point as we worked on Episode 1, and I think that helped tremendously with them trusting me as a collaborator. Carole vouching for me was also crucial. Any assistant editor looking to move up really needs to find an editor who is willing to go to bat for them when the time is right.
What haven’t I asked that’s important?
Kravetz Aykanian: I have to mention Charlotte Stoudt, our incredible showrunner/EP, and Mimi Leder, our uber-talented director/EP. Working with such creative and powerful women is such an honor. They gave me their trust and the freedom to experiment and try as much as I wanted. I love our collaboration in the cutting room, our long discussions and their support.
Randi Altman is the founder and editor-in-chief of postPerspective. She has been covering production and post production for more than 25 years.
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