Well, that’s it. After Hoda Kotb spent her final morning on Today last Friday, the beloved host will no longer show up on the 2025 TV schedule as a main co-anchor for the first time since she started in 2018. It has to feel especially odd for her longtime co-host Savannah Guthrie, but per the anchor, she wasn’t necessarily shocked Kotb made her decision.
As Guthrie welcomes a fresh partner in news with Craig Melvin as Hoda Kotb’s replacement, she recently reflected on the moment Hoda told her she was retiring. In her words to Parade:
I was shocked and not shocked. Hoda and I have talked for years about our dreams and part two of [our lives], and what it’s like to transition and be bold. I knew it was in her heart. She is as popular as ever. She's as good as it gets. And she's saying, No, I think I'll go into the great unknown. And I find that so amazing. What I said to her right then and there, though, is that I'm going to set aside a moment for how I feel because to lose you is crushing.
Along with the anchors' long professional relationship, it’s clear the pair are also good friends in life. With that in mind, Guthrie shared that they would often talk about the future together. During those heart to hearts, Guthrie gathered that Kotb’s time on Today could end, especially as the TV personality has become a mother in the past decade and turned 60.
It sounds like Guthrie is very proud of her now former co-anchor for choosing to “go into the great unknown” and try something new in her life. At the same time, when Kotb did tell Guthrie, not long before she shocked fans on TV, she also had to voice her own sadness regarding the loss of getting to work with her everyday.
Hoda Kotb received an incredible sendoff last week on Today, that included celebrity guests like Oprah Winfrey, Jimmy Fallon, Gayle King, Maria Shriver, Simone Biles, and Kermit the Frog. Guthrie gave Kotb a thoughtful gift of pom poms to symbolize how after cheering so many people on, she deserves to get that same treatment. Following the exit, tons of her co-workers like Al Roker and Jenna Bush Hager paid tribute to Kotb with such thoughtful words about working alongside her for all these years.
But, what is Hoda Kotb’s “great unknown” moving forward? The anchor recently quipped she won’t be waking up as early for one, but has additionally talked about creating her own wellness app that is “affordable and accessible”, per Good Housekeeping. It’s also been reported that the former Today anchor could be conducting exclusive interviews for the 2026 Winter Olympics and 2028 Summer Olympics along with continuing her Making Space podcast.
While it’ll be weird for some time not to see Kotb and Guthrie together on Today in the mornings, it sounds like Guthrie and Craig Melvin are already getting along great and Kotb’s legacy on Today is just phenomenal.
