Savannah Guthrie is achieving new career milestones, even though her mother, Nancy Guthrie, is not by her side. The Today star has spoken about her family’s ongoing challenges while sharing that she will be hosting an upcoming Wordle game show at NBC. This comes as her 84-year-old mother remains missing under mysterious circumstances.
Savannah has described the unexpected career move as “strange” given the ongoing investigation into her mother’s disappearance, but she is also excited about the positive opportunity it presents.
The well-known Today host shared the news during a broadcast on Monday, May 11, when she was joined by Jimmy Fallon. “This is very exciting, I have a big announcement to make,” said the host of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, who will serve as an executive producer on the upcoming competition series. “We’ve been developing Wordle as a game show for the past two-and-a-half years with The New York Times, and it’s official — we are making Wordle Game Show with our host, Savannah Guthrie!”
Jimmy responded with enthusiasm, and Savannah added, “We’ve been working on this for a really long time, and actually we just found out in February that we got picked up and we were supposed to shoot in March.”
“I Didn’t Expect That”
She continued, “And I just want to say a quick thank you to NBC and to Jimmy and his production company and The New York Times and the studio and Universal because when everything happened with me and my family, they just stopped everything and said ‘We’ll wait for you.’” This comment refers to her mother allegedly being taken from her Tucson, Arizona, home during the early hours of Sunday, February 1.
Savannah added, “And Hollywood is a really tough business, and I didn’t expect that, and I just want to say thank you, it means so much to me.”
“We Can’t Do It Without You”
In response, Jimmy said, “We can’t do it without you,” to which Savannah confessed, “It kind of feels strange to do everything right now, but this is something that’s full of joy.”
“We’ve been holding this secret between us for a long time now,” Savannah mentioned. “And we’re going to make Wordle a game show.”
Jimmy emphasized his excitement about having Savannah as a host, saying, “I’m so happy it’s you. We were looking, we’re like, ‘Who’s the perfect host of this?’ We need to have someone that looks like they play Wordle, someone that knows how to run a show and host it, and we did the pilot, and you are amazing, by the way.”
Savannah, wearing a yellow, green, and white plaid skirt, joked, “I thought you picked me because I have a skirt that looks like a Wordle.”
She went on to describe the series as a “great family game” that will be “super fast-paced and fun,” adding, “I love a game and a show that you can watch with kids and you feel like they’re learning some things.”
Jimmy praised Savannah for being “fantastic” at the role, admitting that the production’s crew all agreed they could not “do the show without” her.
Savannah’s Today co-host, Craig Melvin, agreed, joking, “Jimmy, again, you can’t do it without her — neither can we. So you can borrow her for a little while, but make sure you return her.”
