Meet Me at Crafty

The Morning Show has always thrived on scale and ambition, but Season 4 pushes its visual world into some of its most exciting territory yet. For production designer Nelson Coates, the Emmy-nominated mastermind behind the show’s evolving New York—crafted almost entirely in Los Angeles—this season became an irresistible opportunity to stretch, experiment, and elevate.

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The team ventured into new neighborhoods, reimagined iconic locations, and built out richly detailed personal spaces that reveal fresh layers of the characters we think we know. Even the unexpected requirements—like designing a Belarusian prison cell or transforming a Rockefeller Center rooftop—became a chance to lean into the season’s moodier thriller energy.

It’s a world of darker palettes, sharper contrasts, and an undercurrent of intrigue, all executed at breakneck speed by a design department juggling constant pivots, surprise scripts, and a flood of new cast members. Here, Coates takes us inside the creativity and collaboration that shaped The Morning Show’s most visually dynamic season yet.

Congratulations on another absolutely unhinged season of The Morning Show. Were you expecting to design a Belarus prison cell this year?

Nelson Coates: Not even a little. At the start of each season, they pitch me where they think the scripts are going, so I knew we’d be diving deeper into everyone’s personal spaces. But storylines shift constantly. You really have to stay limber and be ready when inspiration strikes. That’s been true every season; I’m always trying to expand our version of New York, take us into neighborhoods we haven’t seen, make it feel like the show actually shoots there… even though it doesn’t.

Which shocked me, by the way. I only learned that recently.

Billy Crudup’s friends didn’t know either! He once left dinner early in New York to catch a flight to L.A., and they were like, “Why? Don’t you shoot here?” This is why I’m proud of how carefully we choose and disguise L.A. locations. Cory comes back from L.A. and lands on the Upper West Side—we’ve never shown that before. Same with Soho until Miles’s loft this year. And that rooftop jazz band scene—as far as we know, no other show has filmed on top of Rockefeller Center. We had four days in New York and the rest in L.A. Even our “JFK Airport” was a set in L.A.

I’m now picturing the entire production having to schlep up to the top of Rockefeller Center with gear.

Oh, you have no idea. It was like, which department is in what elevator, at what time. We loaded in on the day of filming, even the scenery. It was crazy.

It’s such an iconic location. How much did you have to dress it?

A lot. We brought in the dance floor, the stage—covering a fountain—and all the furniture, cocktail tables, bar setups, plus about half the greenery. And all of it had to go up those elevators.

You really punished those elevators.

Pretty much. And on top of that, we had Jeremy Irons, Marion Cotillard, Boyd Holbrook, and Aaron Pierre joining this season, which meant new character spaces. Literally, you’re having to figure out, “OK, what can sell an Ivy League school and what can sell a Fifth Avenue penthouse? And how do we make that happen super fast?” And even JFK airport, we dressed it in a day. There were a lot of interesting and exciting challenges on top of the fact that we had to rebrand everything after the merger [in Season 3].

Did the rebranding let you refresh the existing sets?

To make it feel real, we have fictional shows and all of the marketing materials for their full slate. And we’re having fun with the titles. If you look at them, there’s one that’s called High Crimes, and isn’t that what’s going on in The Morning Show? Or This Too Shall Pass. Some of those titles have gone on with new seasons, like our kid sleuth show called Small Mediums. But what was super fun this season was bringing it darker and richer because there’s a thriller aspect to Season 4.

Which is so funny because every time we go back to The Morning Show’s actual set, the brightness feels almost alarming.

Exactly. And then you go to Boyd Holbrook’s character’s podcast space, which is the ultimate bro space. I even pushed the writers: “Remember, podcasts are filmed now.” So we designed cameras into the set so the podcast can pop up anywhere on-screen.

Speaking of seeing more of the characters’ home lives—how has Alex’s home evolved?

It has gotten larger, and it’s gotten darker, and the art has become more complex. There is a sense that she is making more money, but it’s darker all the way around. Even the kitchen is a whole two shades darker this season than it was last season.

Was that part of early conversations for the season?

Yes. When Charlotte [Stoudt, the showrunner] shared the direction, I pitched bringing down the palette. Something has a bit of foreboding at every juncture. Even Cory’s Upper West Side place, the hallways feel a little too narrow, like something is about to happen.

It’s rare for a show this far into its run to reinvent itself so thoroughly every season.

And we do it on less stage space than you’d imagine. The different floors of UBN are actually the same floor, redressed with new walls. Alex’s office becomes the conference room. Cory’s office is now Stella’s, then Celine’s. Stella’s desk, we designed that from scratch. It’s complex, angular. It almost goes with her severe haircuts and clothing. You feel, as the woman head of the network, that she needed armor, even in her desk. It’s this high design, but highly dangerous, and has a precarious top that may topple at any moment.

Let’s talk Miles’s art. What did you need for that storyline?

When you’re in a loft space, you really have to create the layers and layers of work that have happened over time on the floor and on the tables, but also in the work itself, seeing the change of an artist. Some pieces are finished, some pieces are in process.

We researched Black artists working in New York, and then found an artist who had about six weeks [free] to generate work. We gave reference ideas and then worked through two or three styles to show an early period and a later period. We even brought in a tech advisor to help Aaron, making sure that he felt comfortable with how to clean his brushes and how to move things around.

You also did an opera house and a prison in the same episode. Where was the opera filmed?

The Orpheum in L.A. And we had from 3:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. to load in chandeliers, drapery, scenery, lighting—the works. A road show had loaded out at 3:30. It was wacky.

I’m picturing a murder board in your office with string everywhere.

In the final nine days of filming, we had 14 new sets or locations. Because of actor scheduling, we had three shooting units at once—three directors, three camera teams, three AD teams… and one design team. Six scripts shooting on any day. It was 3D chess in a way I’ve never played before.

Well, it paid off. This season looks especially stunning.

Thank you. I finally got to redo the Morning Show green room. Plus, we design every fake segment you see on screen. “What Do You Pack for Paris,” these crazy segments in the background that may not even be more than support material on a screen.

And my final question, as always: What’s your go-to at craft services?

A veggie breakfast burrito. I could do that pretty much all day long and be a happy man. They would see me coming, whether it was in crafty or at breakfast, and it was already ready. They knew. That way, I can keep enough brain space open for the crazy design assignments that are coming down the pike.

You have to stay nimble!

Exactly. You never know when you’ll be recreating a Rockefeller Center rooftop inside an LED volume in L.A. And I had an incredible team this season: Cal Loucks, Scott Meehan as my supervising art director, and Elizabeth Newton as my art director. It was just super, super cohesive. And you see it on screen, it really shows up.

Nelson Coates is an Emmy-nominated and ADG-winning production designer whose credits include Crazy Rich Asians, Flight, and In the Heights.