Hoda Kotb to Continue at ‘Today’ in Savannah Guthrie’s Absence

Viewers of “Today” are going to see a little more of Hoda Kotb.

Kotb is expected to continue to fill in at the NBC morning franchise opposite Craig Melvin while regular co-anchor Savannah Guthrie continues to monitor the search for her mother, Nancy, in Arizona, according to a person familiar with the matter. Kotb has been co-anchoring “Today” for the past three weeks.

Kotb does not plan to rejoin the program full time, this person says, noting that Guthrie is expected to return to “Today” on her own timeline, even though her absence may continue for a significant period.

Guthrie has been absent from the show since the start of the month. Her mother, Nancy, has been missing since January 31.

Kotb, who left the program in early 2025, has remained under contract to NBC since that time. She has taken part in a podcast as well as NBC’s annual telecast of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, while making occasional appearances on “Today” hours. Kotb was originally supposed to attend NBC’s Winter Olympics coverage in Italy along with Guthrie and other “Today” personnel, but those plans were scaled back after Nancy Guthrie disappeared.

Kotb’s decision to stay offers a viable solution for NBC and “Today” producers. She’s already affiliated with the show, and adding someone new to the mix during such a difficult moment could be ill advised The introduction of someone new to fill in more regularly for Guthrie — even on an interim basis — could alienate viewers, who have a years-long relationship with her and don’t want to see her treated poorly, particularly under duress.

When Kotb announced her decision to exit in 2024, she cited a desire to spend time with two young daughters. “I realized it was time for me to turn the page,” after a recent 60th birthday, she told colleagues on the program. She noted that she had children later in life and that “they deserve a bigger piece of my time pie that I have.”

Kotb had been at NBC News since 1998, when she joined as a correspondent for the “Dateline” newsmagazine. She arrived at NBC after logging years at CBS affiliates in Florida and Louisiana. But she gained a wider profile after joining a fourth hour of “Today” in 2007 that typically airs at 10 a.m. At first, Kotb was one of group of personnel assigned to the show, but within months was paired with Kathie Lee Gifford, a veteran of the syndicated ABC program “Live” who held her own for years opposite Regis Philbin.

Suddenly, Kotb was talking about her dating adventures with Gifford. being satirized on “Saturday Night Live” and sharing more of her personal life than than a journalist might expect. “It used to be you could host a morning show, even the 7, and not really reveal too much. And I think everything has changed now. I think now part of entering into this world, you have to reveal things. Because people expect so much more,” Kotb told Variety in 2014. “They don’t know whether to love you or not if you don’t share anything and sometimes you have to go beyond. I feel like I’ve gone beyond what I’m comfortable with.”