00:00Mia is very decidedly a character that is heard but not seen.
00:04But in season four, she wants to be heard and seen.
00:12Well, it was great, right?
00:14Because I had just finished filming Forever,
00:17and then I started doing The Morning Show.
00:20And all of the experiences that I had with doing Dawn Edwards,
00:24I could bring to my experience of doing Mia Jordan.
00:28In season four, she wants to be heard and seen.
00:33That's very much a leap that, as an actor, I had to take
00:36that I wanted to be believable in the character.
00:41You pitched UBN as a feminist utopia where women lift each other up?
00:45I mean, radical is a word, right?
00:47She's what I call in her social vigilante stage.
00:50I do think that that deep sense of disappointment and betrayal
00:54that black women can feel when they reach a certain level
00:58and they realize that discrimination is going to change the course of their career.
01:04Many of us have experienced that in many different ways.
01:08But what you don't expect is that you are going to experience it
01:12with women who are like-minded or who are allies or advocates on behalf of you.
01:19I think that part of what's interesting about The Morning Show
01:23is that we explore those systems that hold women back.
01:28We've done that since season one.
01:30But we're also exploring a deep conflict when women are actually responsible
01:36for holding up that system through their privilege, through their own power.
01:42This season, Mia decides that she's, for lack of a better way to say it,
01:46she don't fuck with that no more.
01:47Do you know what I mean?
01:48Like, she's walking around in a red suit with red-bottomed shoes.
01:51We don't play Bodak Yellow, but we could be playing Bodak Yellow in episode five.
02:01She's basically decided, you guys are, you know,
02:03you're going to fuck around and find out this season.
02:06And I quite enjoy exploring that.
02:11I know what I deserve, and it's my time now.
02:15So is that some kind of a threat?
02:16Well, I think that it'll be interesting to see what people look at on the show.
02:23Whatever an audience brings to the story is what they take away,
02:27not necessarily as an artist what I want them to take away.
02:30But in the big scheme of things, I think that the conversation that I have as an artist
02:35with the audience is always one around diversity and inclusivity,
02:39how we share common ground and how we are so much alike
02:45if we allow ourselves to see it.
02:47I represent the kind of a human being that's in the world right now,
02:51that black women who have had enough.
02:54In many ways, we have decided that we're going to strategize about power and position.
03:01The posture that we're taking is very different,
03:03and I think that that's reflected in Mia's journey in season four.
03:07No, absolutely not.
03:08Yeah, it's a good question.
03:09It's actually a relief, interestingly enough.
03:12It was actually, I felt even a closer bond with the crew.
03:17It does incredible things on the show.
03:19I mean, these cameramen follow me around and catch all my shenanigans.
03:23No matter, there's a cameraman I really love, his name is Chris,
03:26who does a camera on the show, and I look over at him sometimes,
03:31and I think, did you get that?
03:32And he's like, don't worry, I got everything you did.
03:34And it just, I think, in a lot of ways, brought us closer together.
03:38It was an interesting experience.
03:40That imposter syndrome just kind of fell away.
03:42I decided I wasn't going to campaign for anything anymore.
03:45I am here.
03:47I've shown my worth.
03:48I'm here to represent the best of what I had,
03:50not because I'm looking for something,
03:52but because I know I'm truly excellent, right?
03:54So this season is a real exploration just of taking myself to the next level.
04:01There's no competition.
04:01There's just me.
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