The Morning Show 2: Here's how Steve Carell reacted to his character Mitch Kessler's death in the series

In the latest episode of The Morning Show season two, the makers killed off a major character, Mitch Kessler, played by Steve Carell. In the death sequence, it's shown that he dies by suicide as he takes off his hands from the steering wheel and dives straight from a cliff in Italy. This sequence comes after Jennifer Aniston's character, Alex Levy, and they spend time together in Italy after a very long time. 

Now, during an interaction with The Hollywood Reporter, Kerry Ehrin, who is the showrunner of The Morning Show, spoke at length about the death of Carell's character. When asked if Carell was persuaded to reprise his role as Kessler for a second season, Ehrin said that he didn't, at least as far as she is aware. She even called Steve a joy to work with and revealed that he was completely dedicated to the project. Ehrin also thinks that Carell did an outstanding job portraying a very bad person and he relished the opportunity.

On being asked why did she believe it was vital to follow Mitch's story this season and did it feel risky to do so, the showrunner shared that it feels brave intellectually and she became so immersed in the characters that she experienced everything from their point of view. Ehrin believed the challenge was that she didn't want Carell's character to go back to season one and be in denial. 

Explaining further, she said that Kessler is seen sitting at the table in the final scene of season one and the reality of what had transpired had hit him. She thought it'd be interesting if he admitted it, let it into his body and mind. Ehrin added that then he had to live with it and not being able to get away from it. She shared that it was a particular form of torture and she thought it was fascinating to observe.

Ehrin went on to say that it was difficult not to fall victim to compassion and not to say anything like, "Oh, poor Mitch." She added that they never gave him a clean bill of health and never said that something like this should have happened to him. Ehrin believes Carell's performance is so lovely because the actor is so conscious of it all the time. She added that he hit the correct note at the appropriate time and thinks it's fantastic.

Ehrin revealed that Carell cracked a few jokes on hearing about his character Kessler's death in The Morning Show. She said that he was just the best. 

Talking about the series, eight episodes of the second season are currently streaming on Apple TV+, while the rest of the two episodes will be out in the coming weeks.