As Apple TV+ continues to explore the dark side of television news media in Season 2 of its acclaimed drama series The Morning Show, things are poised to get even rockier for UBA news's weatherman, Yanko Flores. Portrayed by Néstor Carbonell (The Dark Knight), Yanko has gone through the emotional wringer -- from a recent breakup to a professional incident that will send him into a spiral while UBA faces both internal and external pressures.
In an exclusive interview with CBR, Carbonell discussed the joys of delving into his character's emotional struggle, reflected on his character's darkly tinged monologue closing out Season 1, and teased what viewers can expect for his character in The Morning Show Season 2.
When we last saw Yanko at the end of Season 1, even apart from the catastrophic events at UBA, he was at a personal crossroads going through a big breakup and facing an existential crisis. How was it picking that back up going into Season 2?
Néstor Carbonell: It was six months in the timeline between Season 1 and Season 2 when we find everybody and we still find Yanko a mess. He still hasn't recovered from Claire breaking up with him and he's sort of in a puddle of sadness only for things to get worse for him when he unwittingly says something that offends someone in one of his weather broadcasts. And now he's embroiled in potentially being canceled from his work. Things only get worse for Yanko in the best possible way for me as an actor. [laughs] His misery is my joy because, as an actor, that's all you wish for, conflict and high stakes.
I love that about this season because everybody goes through some kind of identity crisis, every character does this season. In no small way, Yanko is forced to rethink everything about the business, about himself, humanity, and society. The writers do a phenomenal job and [showrunner] Kerry Ehrin does a tremendous job of highlighting what we're dealing with today and all the trappings of social media, specifically.
In talking about Yanko's misery, this guy is the weatherman so he has to put on this brave face even as his life is crumbling around him. How do you find that dichotomy?
It's interesting. I don't think any one of us has to go that far to do that.
We present ourselves a certain way when we leave our home and we come home and the veneer comes off and the stuff is real. To a certain extent, we all have to have a public image, whether it's at work and in society. I hope everybody can relate to him but, you're right, in his particular case, he has to be particularly bubbly. He's the weatherman and the camera cuts to the meteorologist hopefully for some kind of good cheer on some level, unless the country or world is suffering from a hurricane or fires. But typically as a weatherperson, you want to connect to your viewers and you're right, he's got to put on the bells and whistles, which makes it more fun, especially with what he's going through.
Just as a fan of the show, one of my favorite scenes in Season 1 is a monologue you have in a bar at the end of the season. How was it getting to do that?
It was a lot of fun! I worked with Kerry Erhin, our writer, on Bates Motel before so when they handed me the script, I was like, "This is so great!" What I loved about it was that we had seen a bubblier side to Yanko -- even when he was going through stuff with Claire, there was a lot of comedic elements to it -- but there was something much darker in that speech he gives to the bartender who's only half-listening as he's drinking himself into his scotch. I love that I got to explore a darker side to that character and a more cynical side to that character.
Created by Jay Carson, The Morning Show Season 2 premieres Sept. 17 on Apple TV+, with new episodes released on Fridays.