Greta Lee to exit 'The Morning Show'

Los Angeles, Oct 22 (PTI) "Past Lives" star Greta Lee is leaving the hit Apple TV series "The Morning Show" where she played the role of Stella Bak, an executive of a news network.

Headlined by Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon, the show explores the personal and professional dynamics of a morning news programme crew. Lee's Stella Bak is the president of UBA’s news division and heads an online media company that caters to a millennial and Gen Z audience.

As per The Hollywood Reporter, the actor, who joined the Emmy-winning Apple TV series in season two, is leaving the series in its fourth season.

“I was interested in Stella as a person who grew up in tech, who always thought of tech as something like a superpower that could enhance her. What happens when tech becomes a way to look in the mirror and ask, who am I really? Am I on the right path?” Charlotte Stoudt, showrunner of "The Moring Show" said about writing Lee's exit.

In the show, Bak exits the media empire after her affair comes to light. She leaves on a flight with an ambiguous ending to her character.

"It was very emotional (filming her final scene). Just thinking about it, I tear up. It was very hard to leave her, even though it was time for Stella to go rediscover some part of herself, and she couldn’t do that at UBN... She had to get on that plane by herself. When you really are at a crossroads, people can support you, but you can’t have a buddy. You have to have to figure it out by yourself," added Stoudt.

"This is the first time I’m saying it out loud but yeah, this is the end. This is goodbye," Lee confirmed.

"I know. It’s shocking. But, this is it. This is the end of the road for her, and I feel all kinds of things. We’re with these characters for so long, it’s surreal. I haven’t been able to say anything because I didn’t want to spoil it, but I’ve known for some time now that this is the end of the road for her and this is her goodbye." The actor explained that remaining on the show became difficult for her as she juggled other projects and motherhood with "The Morning Show".

"So this was where we had to land. I was like, 'Well, I have this amount of time while filming Tron and Late Fame and Kathryn Bigelow’s movie A House of Dynamite'. So the writers came back with this storyline and it’s so bittersweet, but I also feel this was the end. Sometimes it’s that hard thing where it’s time. It’s time for a character to move on," she said.

Lee played the lead role of Nora in Celine Song's critically-acclaimed "Past Lives" in 2023 about an Korean-American writer reconnecting with her childhood sweetheart many years later. PTI SMR BK SMR BK BK