Nearly eight years after he left his iconic role on NBC’sThe Office, actorSteve Carellis finally returning to television. In a testament to just how significantly the TV landscape has changed since Carell bid farewell to the classic sitcom, the actor has signed on for a lead role in an untitled drama series from Apple, which is expected to launch via the company sometime next year. This particular series revolves around the goings-on at a morning show and has been in the works for some time withJennifer AnistonandReese Witherspoonstarring and executive producing.
The drama series aims to offer an inside look “at the lives of the people who help America wake up in the morning” and is based onBrian Stelter’s bookTop of the Morning: Inside the Cutthroat World of Morning TV. PerTHR, Carell will play a character named Mitch Kessler, a morning show anchor who is struggling to maintain relevance in a changing media landscape.Kerry Ehrin(Friday Night Lights,Bates Motel) is the showrunner andMimi Leder(The Leftovers) directs.
Apple has already given a two-season, 20-episode order to the untitled series, which is Apple’s most high-profile original series currently in the works. Apple has been announcing a bevy of original content—mostly TV—that it plans to release sometime in 2019 or 2020, but the company has yet to confirm exactly how people will be able to watch it.
Recently detailshave started to leak out, and it’s reported that all of Apple’s original content will be available to watch for free by anyone with an Apple device that has the Apple TV app. This hasn’t been confirmed, but it makes sense given that we’ve also heard that Apple is focused on making PG-rated content, given that it’ll pop up for free on all Apple devices.
This is mighty exciting news for fans of Carell, who delivered one of the best performances in television history onThe Office. Since that time he’s delved into more dramatic work on the big screen to great success in films likeFoxcatcherand this year’sBeautiful Boy, and he also has his turn as Donald Rumsfeld inAdam McKay’s Dick Cheney filmViceand the lead inRobert Zemeckis’ unique dramaWelcome to Marwenon tap for 2018.
