What Savannah Guthrie’s ‘Today’ Show Return Will Look Like as Producers Play Early Days “By Ear”

The Gist

• Insiders revealed what Savannah Guthrie’s early days back at the Today show will look like once she returns on Monday, April 6.

• Guthrie has taken a two-month hiatus amid the ongoing search for her mom Nancy after the 84-year-old was taken from her Arizona home.

• Sources told Variety how producers plan to “play it by ear” as Guthrie returns to her anchor duties.

Savannah Guthrie will be back on the Today show on Monday, April 6 after a two-month hiatus—but her highly-anticipated return is a bittersweet one amid the ongoing search for her mom Nancy. As law enforcement continues investigating the abduction of the 84-year-old from her home in Tucson, Arizona, insiders talked to Variety what Guthrie’s early days back in her anchor’s chair might look like.

The TV personality’s on-air homecoming comes after she sat down for a tearful two-part interview with Hoda Kotb that aired on March 26 and March TV. In addition to sharing the heartbreaking moment she found out her mom was missing and addressing “cruel” speculation that her family was involved in the abduction, Guthrie opened up about her new normal as she returns to Today.“I don’t know if I can do it,” she frankly told Kotb. “I don’t know if I’ll belong anymore, but I would like to try. I would like to try. I’m not going to be the same, but maybe it’s like that old poem—more beautiful in the broken places.”

To ensure her transition back is as seamless as possible, two insiders “familiar with the show” told Variety that showrunners are planning to “play it by ear” for a period as Guthrie acclimates to being back in her anchor role. This might include “trying to work segments around their suitability to Guthrie,” including potentially steering away from stories about true crime or violence, as well as certain comedic moments—at least in the beginning. However, one source said that producers will be evaluating situations and headlines as they come up, and there’s no hard and fast rule.

Guthrie told Kotb about some of her hesitations about coming back to Today, explaining, “It’s hard to imagine doing it because it’s such a place of joy and lightness, and I can’t come back and try to be something that I’m not. But I can’t not come back because it’s my family.”

Guthrie revealed that she believes that returning is “part of [her] purpose” as well as a form of “protest” against the tragedy that has happened to her family. “I want to smile. And when I do, it will be real. And my joy will be my protest. My joy will be my answer. And being there is joyful. And when it’s not, I’ll say so,” she continued. “I have been so grateful to have this family. I consider this my family, my greater family, and when times are hard, you want to be with your family. And I want to be with my family.”

Read the original article on InStyle