Julianna Margulies Will Return to ‘The Morning Show’ in Season 3

Laura Peterson hive, rejoice! Julianna Margulies — who plays an anchor at UBA, a love interest for Bradley (Reese Witherspoon) and the former rival of Alex (Jennifer Aniston) — will return to “The Morning Show” for its third season. The Apple TV+ series is currently in production, and recently announced that Jon Hamm has joined the Season 3 cast (playing Paul Marks, a corporate raider).

Margulies’ Laura made quite an impression in the show’s second season, when she began dating Bradley before they co-anchored “The Morning Show” together. She will return in a major recurring role, according to Apple, similar to Season 2.

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Season 2 was set before, and then during, the panicky early days of the coronavirus pandemic. When Alex returned to “The Morning Show” after Bradley has to take her brother to rehab, she and Laura had to put their earlier, pre-series feud aside and demonstrate hand-washing live on television. By the end of the episode, Alex and Laura were able to reach a détente, when Laura forgave Alex for outing and then abandoning her as a friend (again, pre-series).

In June, Margulies told Variety‘s Emily Longeretta that she was interested in returning to play Laura again. “I find her fascinating,” she said. “I want to know about her childhood: When did she first know she was gay? How did her parents react? Has she ever been in a long-term relationship? What does she love to do when she’s not working? Does she even want a long-term relationship? Is she capable of that? I want to know if she’s really fallen for Bradley, or if it’s just another fling? I would love to see her and Alex strike up a friendship of some kind — can they work through their past and move on and have a genuine friendship?”

Charlotte Stoudt will serve as “The Morning Show” showrunner and executive producer on Season 3 under her overall deal with Apple, stepping in for Kerry Ehrin, who ran the show’s first two seasons. Michael Ellenberg of Media Res executive produces, as do Aniston and Kristin Hahn through Echo Films. Witherspoon and Lauren Neustadter executive produce through Hello Sunshine. Mimi Leder serves as director and executive producer.

When we last saw Laura, she was leaving New York City for her Montana ranch to escape COVID, and tried to get Bradley to come with her by saying she had a home studio from which she could broadcast.

Margulies has been nominated for 10 Emmy awards, winning three times: twice for actress in a drama for her portrayal of Alicia Florrick on “The Good Wife,” and once for supporting actress in a drama as Carole Hathaway on “ER.” She is represented by WME, Gendler & Kelly, and Wolf-Kasteler Public Relations.

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