‘Wordle’ TV Show Hosted by Savannah Guthrie Is a Go at NBC

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The word of the day is “Wordle,” only it’s one letter too many.

NBC has greenlit a game show based on the popular New York Times puzzle. The primetime series will be hosted by Today show co-anchor Savannah Guthrie, an avid player of the game. Jimmy Fallon (The Tonight Show), another fan of the daily puzzle, is set to executive produce. The show is expected to premiere sometime in 2027.

The development of the game show was first reported in October. Since then, Guthrie’s entire world has changed, though not her commitment to the project.

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Guthrie’s mom, Nancy Guthrie, was taken from her Tucson, Arizona home in the early morning hours of Feb. 1. Nancy is 84 years old and suffering from numerous medical conditions. There have been no suspects identified and no proof of life since. The kidnapping has been a highly public, agonizing ordeal for Savannah Guthrie, who only recently returned to her morning show seat alongside Craig Melvin.

The Wordle series hails from Universal Television Alternative Studio and Fallon’s Electric Hot Dog company; the Times is also a production partner.

Wordle, which the Times acquired in 2022 (the game launched in 2021) and logs billions of plays from the paper’s games site annually, gives users six tries to guess a five-letter word, revealing only if letters are in the right place (via a green background) or part of the word but in the wrong place (with a gold background). It was an instant phenomenon.

“Now, that style of play comes to life as the most-obsessed and competitive players will team up in squads and go head-to-head in the ‘Wordle’ arena, playing for an incredible cash prize,” NBC said as part of the greenlight announcement. No word(le) yet on how “incredible” that cash prize is, but the “Wordle arena” sounds pretty interesting.

Fallon also produces Password, another NBC game show, so that’s his connection to the world. (He also had a Shark Tank-like competition series, On Brand, but that’s now axed.) Guthrie has some game show experience herself: she served as a guest host on Jeopardy! in 2021 following the death of Alex Trebek.

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