Savannah Guthrie will host NBC's upcoming Wordle TV game show. The Today show anchor landed the hosting gig for the New York Times's primetime adaptation of the viral word game.
The New York Times announced the move on Monday, revealing that Wordle is becoming a televised game show on NBC. Guthrie shared the news live on the Today show's 8:00 AM broadcast, with Jimmy Fallon—serving as a production partner alongside The Times—joining the announcement.
The show has been in development for two-and-a-half years. While the daily Wordle game has accumulated millions of players, producers have worked to adapt it for television.
The TV version will differ sharply from the mobile game. Instead of contemplative, solo play on a phone screen, the show will feature high-energy family entertainment designed for live audiences.
This marks The New York Times's first collaboration with a major TV broadcaster for entertainment programming. The move reflects the company's strategy to expand its digital subscription business as print revenue declines.
NBC will begin shooting episodes this summer and is currently casting contestants. The network is accepting applications from players who believe they can compete at the highest level.
Wordle began in October 2021 when Brooklyn software engineer Josh Wardle released it as a word puzzle game. The Times acquired it in January 2022. The company reported that users played over 11 billion puzzles across all its games in the past year.
The Wordle game show launches on NBC next year.
