Hoda Kotb’s official replacement for Today With Hoda & Jenna has not officially been named.
In addition to helming the early news broadcast of Today, Kotb, 60, also leads the fourth-hour show with Jenna Bush Hager. Kotb, however, will leave the broadcast channel in early 2025 and the show will reconfigure the Hoda & Jenna program.
According to Today.com, the show will be retitled Jenna & Friends starring Bush Hager, 42, and a rotating panel of cohosts. The “friends” will appear in a fill-in capacity until a permanent host is hired. The program will also feature new games and segments.
Kotb initially hosted the fourth hour with Kathie Lee Gifford until the latter’s retirement in 2019. Bush Hager joined the team that April.
Nathan Congleton/NBC Hoda Kotb just announced her exit from the Today show — but when is her last day? Don’t worry Today fans, Kotb still has three months left on the morning show. “Because I’ll be working through the beginning of 2025, there’s plenty of time to talk about what’s ahead for all of us,” […]
Kotb announced earlier this year that she will be leaving Today to spend more time with daughters Haley, 7, and Hope, 5. (Kotb shares her kids with ex Joel Schiffman.)
Bush Hager previously felt emotional hearing news of Kotb’s departure.
“If any of y’all have ever been in a relationship like this one where it’s like we’re partners in everything — I mean, first of all, when I told my kids Hoda was leaving, I might as well have said, ‘Daddy’s leaving, because they were like, wait, what? Why?’” Bush Hager quipped on an episode of Today last month. “You know, they couldn’t understand it, and I understood it, even though my heart was broken.”
She added at the time, “I am so proud of her. Although, I will say I walk around even here, and people are like, ‘Congratulations, Hoda!’ And I feel like the girl that just got dumped. And people are like, ‘You made the best choice, Hoda!’ And I’m like, ‘Did she? Did she make the best choice?’ … She did, and we will be part of this in every way we can, and we will miss her so much. But I am so proud of you.”
After seven years, Hoda Kotb’s time on Today is coming to an end, and she has thoughts on who should replace her. Though Kotb, 60, didn’t name names, she did reveal the quality her replacement must have if they want to succeed alongside Jenna Bush Hager in the show’s fourth hour. Kotb joined Today as […]
While Today has yet to name Kotb’s replacement on Hoda & Jenna, fellow NBC journalist Craig Melvin will fill her shoes on the earlier hour, which Kotb cohosts with Savannah Guthrie.
“People in this business, when that little red light, it goes off, they’re different people,” Melvin, 45, said last month. “We’ve worked with all these people before. You’re the opposite. That little red light goes off, you are exactly like people see you in the morning — just the biggest heart.”
He continued, “You’ve been the heart of this show for a long time, and there’s no replacing that.”
Melvin also anchors the third hour of Today with Al Roker, Dylan Dreyer and Sheinelle Jones, which he will continue in 2025.
Today airs weekday and weekend mornings on NBC.
