Savannah Guthrie will host Wordle TV game show | New York Times
Savannah Guthrie to host TV game show based on hit New York Times word game Wordle announced Monday.
This will be the host of NBC’s Today show’s first new on-screen venture since returning in April after her mother disappeared two months ago.
In his statement to the Today program, 54-year-old Guthrie said that the project had been in the works for a while, but was postponed due to taking leave after Nancy Guthrie disappeared from her home in Arizona on February 1.
Nancy Guthrie, 84, has not been seen since, despite months of intense investigation. Authorities believe she was likely the victim of a kidnapping.
According to the Times and Press release NBCUniversal announced Monday that Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon will executive produce the show through his Electric Hot Dog company. The newspaper and TV network’s Universal Television Alternative Studio (Utas) will act as co-producer.
The half-hour episodes will be shot in Manchester, England, starting in June, and will air in prime time in the United States in 2027.
Guthrie said he was an “avid” player of the wildly successful viral word game, created by Reddit engineer Josh Wardle in 2021 and acquired by the Times a year later for an undisclosed seven-figure sum.
“We’ve been working on this for so long, and we found out we were actually caught in February and were supposed to be shooting in March,” he told viewers Monday. According to Hello!.
“I just want to say a quick thank you to NBC, Jimmy, the production company, the New York Times, and Universal studio. Because when everything happened to me and my family, they stopped everything and said, ‘We’ll wait for you.’
“And as you know Hollywood is a really tough business and I didn’t expect this and I just want to say thank you, it means a lot to me.”
According to an NBC press release, Fallon said the Wordle show would be “a solid performer for prime time.”
He said: “I am so honored to be working with Savannah Guthrie on this show. Savannah has that rare combination of wit, charm and warmth that makes everyone feel instantly welcome. And she clearly knows how to host a show.”
Utas chairman Toby Gorman said Guthrie would bring “the perfect blend of warmth and wit” to the television version of the game, where players must find a five-letter word in six or fewer guesses.
in it article The newspaper, which confirmed the deal on Monday, said it was “the first instance in which the Times has associated itself with a major broadcaster’s prime-time entertainment program.”
He said he has previously collaborated with cable and broadcast channels for documentary series based on his journalism.
“The Times’ decision to co-produce a half-hour variety show in which contestants compete for prize money partly reflects the company’s diversification in recent years,” he said, adding that the gaming app, which includes daily crosswords, Spelling Bee and Wordle, is among its most popular products.
Guthrie spoke often and poignantly about the pain he and his family had endured since his mother’s disappearance. In an emotional Mother’s Day post on Instagram On Sunday, the presenter said: “We miss you with every breath. We will never stop looking for you. We will never be at peace until we find you.”
Guthrie told the Times that Wordle was a point of connection between him and his mother, and that he showed Nancy Guthrie the pilot episode of the series in December.
“Everything is weird right now,” he said. “It’s weird to get up every day and do the Today show, and it’s weird to say you’re going to do a game show when your heart is broken.
“Nothing has changed in this and it’s not easy. But I’m determined to put one foot in front of the other. And that’s a very enjoyable thing.”
