Hoda Kotb’s Today show replacement named nearly two months after host of 17 years stepped down

Craig Melvin joined ‘Today’ in 2018 and is the host of ‘Third Hour of Today’

Hoda Kotb’s Today show replacement has been announced as Craig Melvin nearly two months after the host of 17 years announced her exit.

The news was revealed on Thursday’s edition of the long-running NBC morning show.

“Craig Melvin is the new anchor of the Today show!” co-host Savannah Guthrie gushed, calling this “one of the most popular decisions NBC News has ever made.”

Melvin became a news anchor for Today in 2018 and co-host of Third Hour of Today the following year. He will co-anchor alongside Guthrie for the 7 and 8am hours beginning January 13, NBC said.

“You were made for this job. … You have all the things that this job needs. You’re the right person for it,” Kotb told her successor.

Melvin said it was “the latest in a long line of blessings.”

“I am beyond excited and grateful... I talked to mom and dad yesterday and I’m thankful they’re still young enough and healthy enough to be able to see this.”

Craig Melvin will co-anchor the ‘Today’ show with Savannah Guthrie (Getty Images for Opportunity Net)

The replacement comes after Kotb announced she was leaving the network after 26 years on September 26.

“I realized that it was time for me to turn the page at 60, and to try something new,” the host said at the time.

The broadcast journalist, who turned 60 in August, explained that spending time with her young daughters, Haley, seven, and Hope, five, was also an important part of her decision.

“Obviously I had my kiddos late in life, and I was thinking that they deserve a bigger piece of my time pie that I have,” she said. “I feel like we only have a finite amount of time.

“And so, with all that being said, this is the hardest thing in the world,” Kotb said.

She clarified that she will continue hosting the Today show alongside co-anchor Savannah Guthrie through January 1, 2025.

Kotb has been an integral part of NBC News for nearly three decades, having first joined the network in 1998 as a correspondent on its weekly nighttime show Dateline.

In 2008, she moved on to co-host the fourth hour of the Today show with Kathie Lee Gifford and then Jenna Bush Hager in 2019.

After NBC fired Today show host Matt Lauer in 2017 following accusations of sexual misconduct, Kotb stepped in alongside Guthrie as a temporary replacement. Her role became permanent weeks later as viewers responded well to the pairing.

Speaking to TheNew York Times, Guthrie commended Kotb’s decision: “It takes such guts to leave a place where you’re so comfortable, so beloved. There’s nothing rash about this.”

Kotb also wrote a letter to the Today staff outlining her plans to “remain a part of the NBC family.”

“Happily and gratefully, I plan to remain a part of the NBC family, the longest work relationship I’ve been lucky enough to hold close to my heart. I’ll be around. How could I not? Family is family and you all will always be a part of mine.”