Apple TV+ reveals teaser trailer for star-studded Morning Wars

Apple has revealed the first trailer for the biggest TV show on its upcoming Apple TV+ streaming platform.

Morning Wars, starring Reese Witherspoon, Steve Carell and Jennifer Aniston, has dropped a teaser trailer, a hint that the high-profile series will be among the first of dozens of projects to debut once Apple TV+ launches this spring.

The one-minute video features a camera panning through the hallways of the fictional show within the show, into dressing rooms, past conferences and eventually onto the empty set of The Morning Show.

Its three big-name stars don't feature, except in photos or posters the camera pans past, but Aniston, Carell and Witherspoon provide voiceovers in what sounds like dialogue snipped from scenes.

In the VO, the characters appear to be expounding on journalistic integrity and the role of news presenters in the lives of their audiences.

While initial expectations were that Morning Wars would be a lighthearted dramedy, this teaser trailer points to the Apple series' vibe being more serious and somewhat akin to Aaron Sorkin's The Newsroom.

Even the name change from The Morning Show, as it was originally titled, to Morning Wars ties into this more sombre tone.

Officially, Apple has described the series as "a high stakes drama that pulls back the curtain on early morning TV".

Aniston and Carell will play the hosts of a morning news program, and if the drama is anything like the real-life antics behind the scenes on Australian breakfast TV, then we know we're in for some hijinks.

Morning Wars also stars Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Billy Crudup, Nestor Carbonell, Mark Duplass and Bel Powley.

The series was directed by Mimi Leder (On the Basis of Sex) and finished filming in May this year. Witherspoon and Aniston serve as executive producers alongside Leder, Kerry Ehrin, Michael Ellenberg, Kristin Hahn and Lauren Levy Neustadter.

Apple is expected to launch its subscription streaming service sometime this spring although the tech giant has not confirmed any dates or pricing. It has already revamped and relaunched its Apple TV app across its devices.

It held a splashy event earlier this year which may have been light on detail but confirmed several dozen of the TV and film projects it has in the pipeline, all of which are designed to attract paying subscribers in a competitive streaming environment.

The upcoming slate includes documentary programming from Oprah Winfrey, Steven Spielberg's Amazing Stories, anthology series of immigrant stories Little America from Kumail Nanjiani and Emily V. Gordon, sci-fi drama For All Mankind from Ron D. Moore, Sofia Coppola film On The Rocks and a J.J. Abrams and Jennifer Garner collaboration called My Glory Was I Had Such Friends.

For All Mankind is the only other series to have released a trailer.

Apple will compete with not just existing streaming services such as Netflix, YouTube Premium and Amazon Prime Video but also not-yet-launched offerings from Disney, Warner and Universal.