‘The Morning Show’ Star Greta Lee Confirms Stella’s Exit

(This story contains MAJOR spoilers from the sixth episode of season four of The morning show“Yes then. “)

Stella Bak is out The morning showscene left.

The fan-favorite character, played by Greta Lee, who joined the Emmy Award-winning Apple TV series in the second season, has left the series. In the sixth episode of season four, titled “If Then,” Stella’s gamble with AI implodes when the CEO of the media company at the heart of the series suffers a public breakdown that, if you ask showrunner Charlotte Stoudt, was a long time coming.

“I was interested in Stella as someone who grew up around technology, who always saw technology as something like a superpower that could make it better. What happens when technology becomes a way to look in the mirror and ask yourself: Who am I really? Am I on the right path?” Stoudt recently said THR on writing Lee’s final episode.

After Stella’s affair with the husband (Aaron Pierre) of her new boss Céline Dumont (played by Marion Cotillard) is revealed during a dysfunctional presentation on the company’s new bet in AI, the CEO leaves the media empire she worked so hard to rebuild and hopes to meet Céline’s husband at the airport for a getaway. But ultimately, Stella is abandoned at the airport and she boards the plane alone with her future unwritten.

“It was very emotional (shooting her final scene). Just thinking about it brings tears to my eyes. It was very hard to leave her, even though it was time for Stella to go and rediscover a part of herself, and she couldn’t do that at UBN,” Stoudt says of Stella’s farewell. “She had to get on that plane by herself. When you’re really at a crossroads, people can support you, but you can’t have a boyfriend. You have to figure it out for yourself.”

After speaking with Stoudt, The Hollywood Reporter spoke with Lee herself to find out what precipitated the in-demand actor’s departure from the show (she also currently stars in Tron: Ares) and how she imagines the path to rediscovery of her character as she confirms her farewell to the series: “It was time for her to leave,” she explains below.

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When I spoke to Charlotte Stoudt, she said it was the end for Stella on the show. I want to hear it from you…is this your exit from the show?

This is the first time I’ve said it out loud but yes, it’s the end. It’s goodbye.

I hate that!

I know, it’s terrible!

I thought Stella would return later in the season. (Note: There are four episodes left.)

I know, I know. It’s shocking. But that’s it. It’s the end of the road for her and I feel all kinds of things. We’ve been with these characters for so long it’s surreal. I couldn’t say anything because I didn’t want to ruin it, but I’ve known for a while now that this is the end of the road for her and this is her goodbye.

How did your conversation with Charlotte go at the start of this fourth season? When you found out it was his bow, how did you react?

There were a lot of factors. Of course, I would have liked to stay forever. It’s like family to me. I moved from New York to Los Angeles because of this show a few years ago. I had my babies during the show and so much happened. But it got to the point where it just wasn’t possible anymore. These shows are such a commitment. We kept trying and it got harder and harder, in terms of scheduling, to be there and be able to dedicate my resources and my time to still be on the show. So that’s where we had to land. I thought, “Well, I have a lot of time while filming Tron And Late fame and Kathryn Bigelow’s film A house of dynamite“, so the writers came back with this storyline and it’s so bittersweet, but I also feel like it was the end. Sometimes it’s a hard thing when it’s time. It’s time for a character to move on.

It has always been very important to me not to show a fake happy ending just for the sake of it. It has always been part of Stella’s legacy to have had to deal with all kinds of things in her position. The changing world and her own changing relationship with her ambition and what she wants. On the one hand, it could go on and on. But I also don’t know how realistic it would have been to actually show all the different challenges that come with being Stella in this world.

Well, it makes me feel good that it’s mutual decision.

It was definitely time to go. I wish I could split myself into different people and still do everything, but that would be physically impossible.

When you think of Stella getting on that plane, what do you imagine her path to rediscovery to be like? Do you see her eventually returning to media or running a tiki bar somewhere?

I think she’ll go to the tiki bar and maybe last a few weeks. It’s so ingrained in her to be a fighter and a worker. I love him. She is brilliant and so innovative; she is the ultimate ultimate thinker. The root of her desire to take this job and leave the tech world to join UBA, which is now UBN, is that she truly believed in redefining what news could be. As we know, it’s a question that’s definitely coming up now, and one that’s not going away anytime soon, and I love that about her. She asks herself, “How can I use the information in the best possible way, and what does the future hold?” »

She really meant all of that, but I think the tragedy is sometimes that the world, both in the media and as a whole, sometimes can’t support your vision. And it’s heartbreaking. So in my fantasy, I imagine that there are Stellas everywhere who are planning their return and who are thinking about the future and who are committed, and can’t think of it any other way. I think she’s plotting and plotting and will come back one way or another.

How did you interact with AI when creating AI Stella for the presentation?

They had incredible technology. It was special effects; much of it was added later. But I never had to do a scene with myself and I found it very weird. I think it shows how weird this whole moment was. We wanted to show our own collective awkwardness with AI and ChatGPT in real time. Every day our relationship becomes more intimate, but it’s all gaining momentum right now. We wanted to show the neglect of that – to say the least, given what’s happening. I think it’s great that they don’t want to move away from the pitfalls of what can happen, in the worst days, if this type of technology is left unchecked and becomes widespread. I think we need to be very thoughtful and not be passive in watching how this all evolves, and making sure that we put guardrails in place as to how this is regulated and who exactly it ultimately serves.

I understand the last scene you filmed was walking down that hallway after the presentation. We haven’t seen your face. What emotions did you feel and how did you react when they called “cut”?

Yes, right after the presentation. I feel emotional now. There were definitely tears. The crew – we have been a family for years and years and have been through so much. We came together during COVID and were one of the first productions to restart, trying to cross this whole new frontier. We went through the strike together, Los Angeles shoots. I always had the impression with Stella that we were doing something new. It was something I could never take for granted every day I was at work. Considering everything that happened and knowing that we were heading into this goodbye, it was painful. I’m not one to bring things home with me, because I have two young children who have no tolerance or patience for this; but it was hard.

That scene – we filmed the big AI presentation at the Academy Museum – I got so sick. I have some kind of bug. I rarely get sick and we had to shut down and shut down production with all these extras. Millicent Shelton, our incredible director, had to hold my hair back! I was shaking and it was horrible. I remember (producer) Michael Ellenberg at the time saying, “Wow, is that method?” I said to myself: “No! “I’ve never been this sick before and that’s the day, of course, that I have to go up and do this presentation in front of over 100 background actors. I really felt for myself, but I felt for Stella in that moment.

Maybe you had a reaction to leaving the show.

It’s overwhelming to think about goodbyes. It’s bittersweet. But it’s honest, I think, in terms of where her story is and where she ends up in season four with all the relationships she’s had. And this is not trivial. It’s so heartbreaking. The scene we did with Mia, with Karen Pittman, where I had to tell her that she didn’t get the job after years of promising her – in our beautiful and complicated relationship as colleagues and friends – to have to break the news of this betrayal was so horrible. We were crying. It was torture. It was really bad. But on those tough days, we try to remember that we’re just being honest about the dynamic and what it would be like for them.

I hope you come back for at least a two-episode Jon Hamm-style arc in season five.

(Laughter.)

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The morning show is streaming new episodes of season four on Apple TV, with new episodes airing on Wednesdays.