Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon and ‘The Morning Show’ return with an out-of-this-world new storyline and viewers are feeling it

WARNING: This article contains spoilers for season three of The Morning Show

The Morning Show returned after nearly two years this week with a spacey new adventure that viewers are pretty much feeling, and one that highlights a different feel and direction for the series under new showrunner, Charlotte Stoudt.

The events of season 2 ended as the pandemic began in 2020, with Jennifer Aniston’s Alex contracting COVID-19 after traveling to Italy to visit Steve Carell’s Mitch — who is since deceased — and Reese Witherspoon’s Bradley searching for her missing brother.

The third season, which began with two episodes Wednesday on AppleTV+, jumped ahead two years to 2022 with COVID in the rearview mirror. The first episode introduced the latest A-list member of the cast, Jon Hamm, who is playing a billionaire named Paul Marks who resembles a real-life Elon Musk in some ways.

One of those ways is an obsession with going into space. And since the show’s central news organization — UBA — is going through financial troubles and Paul has put up a $40-billion offer to buy it, Alex has agreed to go into space on his rocket ship to help seal the deal.

But as the episode unfolds, Alex runs off to cover a big story, leaving Bradley as the lucky fill-in on the rocket ride. So she straps herself in along with Billy Crudup’s Cory and Paul, and up they go.

Perhaps this is a good time to mention that the episode’s director and series executive producer, Mimi Leder, also directed the 1998 sci-fi drama Deep Impact, which also includes a trip to space.

Anyway, a successful trip to space is hindered by issues with the live camera feed, which takes viewers into the second episode that includes a cyberattack on the station. From that, personal emails and texts from employees of the station began to leak, including one that uncovers Bradley’s affair with Julianna Margulies’ Laura character.

The trip to space and a mid 2000s-esque cyber attack are a shift away from the subject matter of the first two seasons that looked at sexual harassment in the workplace — of which Carrell’s Mitch was a central figure — and the global pandemic, among other topics.

But viewers reacting on social media don’t seem to mind for the most part. Some seem to be in a bit of shock at what has happened so far, and some are completely loving it. While others are worried that things have gotten a bit too unrealistic or cheesy.

The third season of The Morning Show will continue with episodes weekly on AppleTV+, wrapping up with number 10 on November 8. The series was renewed for a fourth season earlier this year.

The Morning Show airs Wednesdays on AppleTV+.