Billy Crudup and Gugu Mbatha-Raw Join Apple's Upcoming Morning News Drama

Apple's morning show drama starring Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Aniston is in the casting stage, and Billy Crudup and Gugu Mbatha-Raw are the show's latest additions, reports Variety.

Crudup will play Cory Ellison, a "forward-thinking president of the network news division," while Mbatha-Raw will play Hannah Shoenfield, a "whip-smart and charming" booker of talent.

billycrudupgugumbatharawappletvshow

Image via Shutterstock

Mbatha-Raw is known for "Black Mirror," "A Wrinkle in Time," "Irreplaceable You," and "The Cloverfield Paradox," while Crudup is known for his roles in "Spotlight," "Jackie," "Alien: Covenant," and "Justice League."

The as of yet unnamed morning show drama will also feature Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon, and, as announced earlier this week, Steve Carell, best known for "The Office."

The upcoming show is based on Brian Stelter's non-fiction book "Top of the Morning: Inside the Cutthroat World of Morning TV." It will explore the drama-filled lives of the men and women who star on morning talk shows.

Apple has already signed on to air two 10-episode seasons of the show, which is being produced by Witherspoon and Aniston.

Apple has more than a dozen original television shows in the works, the first of which could debut in March 2019 through a rumored video service that Apple is planning to launch. At least some of the content included in the upcoming video service could be free to watch through the Apple TV app.

Related Roundup: Apple TV
Buyer's Guide: Apple TV (Don't Buy)

Popular Stories

cook trump

Trump Responds to Apple Keeping Diversity Policies

Wednesday February 26, 2025 6:32 am PST by
In an all-caps post on Truth Social today, U.S. President Donald Trump said Apple should fully end its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies. Tim Cook meeting with President Trump in 2017 "APPLE SHOULD GET RID OF DEI RULES, NOT JUST MAKE ADJUSTMENTS TO THEM," he wrote. Trump's post comes one day after Apple held its annual shareholders meeting, during which a majority of...
iOS 18

Apple Says iOS 18.4 Will Be Released in April With These New Features

Wednesday February 26, 2025 7:15 am PST by
In a recent press release, Apple confirmed that iOS 18.4 will be released in April. From the Apple News+ Food announcement:Coming with iOS 18.4 and iPadOS 18.4 in April, Apple News+ subscribers will have access to Apple News+ Food, a new section that will feature tens of thousands of recipes — as well as stories about restaurants, healthy eating, kitchen essentials, and more — from the...
apple watch ultra snow

6 Features Coming to the Apple Watch Ultra 3

Tuesday February 25, 2025 9:00 am PST by
The Apple Watch Ultra 3 is expected to launch later this year, arriving two years after the previous model with a series of improvements. While no noticeable design changes are expected for the third generation since the company tends to stick with the same Apple Watch design through three generations before changing it, there are a series of internal upgrades on the way. By the time the ...
iPhone Fold Vertical Feature

Apple's 2026 Foldable iPhone Has No Visible Display Crease – Report

Tuesday February 25, 2025 2:58 am PST by
Apple is making significant headway on its long-rumored foldable iPhone, with a new report suggesting the company has achieved a major breakthrough by effectively eliminating the screen crease that plagues current foldable devices. According to Korean publication ETNews, Apple is finalizing its component suppliers for the foldable iPhone, with the selection process expected to be completed...
trump iphone dictation issue

Apple Fixing 'Trump' Dictation Processing Bug

Tuesday February 25, 2025 1:18 pm PST by
Multiple iPhone owners today noticed a pronunciation processing issue that causes the word "Trump" to momentarily show up when using dictation to send a message with the word "racist." In some cases, when speaking the word racist through the iPhone's built-in dictation feature, the iPhone briefly interprets the spoken word as "Trump" and "Trump" text shows up in the Messages app before being ...
airpods pro purple

Here's When AirPods Pro 3 Are Rumored to Launch

Monday February 24, 2025 9:14 am PST by
According to a post on X today from a leaker known as Kosutami, Apple plans to launch AirPods Pro 3 in May or June this year. The leaker also claimed that an AirTag 2 will launch around the same time. Kosutami is best known as a collector of prototype Apple hardware, but they have occasionally shared accurate information about Apple's future product plans. For example, they accurately...
airtag orange

AirTag 2 Rumored to Launch in May or June With These New Features

Monday February 24, 2025 6:11 am PST by
Apple plans to launch a second-generation AirTag in May or June this year, according to a post today from a leaker known as Kosutami. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman previously reported that a new AirTag would be released in mid-2025. May or June would align with that timeframe. Below, we recap three new features rumored for the AirTag 2: With a second-generation Ultra Wideband chip, the...
ios 18 4 carplay

iOS 18.4 Includes a Small But Useful Change for CarPlay

Sunday February 23, 2025 2:23 pm PST by
The first beta of iOS 18.4 is now available, and it includes a small but useful change for CarPlay. As we noted in our list of iOS 18.4 features, CarPlay now shows a third row of icons, up from two rows previously. However, this change is only visible in vehicles with a larger center display. For example, a MacRumors Forums member noticed the change in a Toyota Tundra, which can be equipped...

Top Rated Comments

vagos Avatar
83 months ago
"It will explore the drama-filled lives of the men and women who star on morning talk shows."

Sounds very very boring...
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
deebinem Avatar
83 months ago
wtf is a gugu? she get named after the first sound she made :D
"Her first name is the shortened version of "Gugulethu", a contraction of [I]igugu lethu, which means "our treasure" in Zulu"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gugu_Mbatha-Raw[/I]
[doublepost=1540502436][/doublepost]
I don't watch Tv of any kind anyway so am indifferent other than it being a new business for Apple.
Says the shareholder with Dr. Phil as their avatar...
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
DaveOP Avatar
83 months ago
"It will explore the drama-filled lives of the men and women who star on morning talk shows."

Sounds very very boring...
Never watched The Newsroom on HBO?
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Michael Scrip Avatar
83 months ago
I'm sure this will be a smash... right up there with Keeping Up With the Kardashians. :rolleyes:
I think I understand the point you're trying to make... I'm not really a fan of "reality" television either.

But you could have picked an example that hasn't been on TV for the last 11 years... :p
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Lesser Evets Avatar
83 months ago
Won't be any politics in that! .../s
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
dontworry Avatar
83 months ago
Not sure what Apple is thinking with this show. Are people really interested in a show about a show? Does anybody care how "cutthroat" morning shows are? Seems really out of touch for normal everyday folks.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)