Savannah Guthrie Takes New Career Turn as Mother's Case Reaches Grim Milestone

Amid the ongoing search for her mother, Nancy Guthrie, who has now been missing for more than 100 days, Today host Savannah Guthrie made a professional announcement on Monday.

The morning show host revealed that she is taking on a new hosting role during an appearance with Jimmy Fallon, who is an executive producer of the upcoming program, according to NBC.

Guthrie will host a Wordle game show on NBC in which contestants will compete for money. Making the announcement, Fallon said, "This is very exciting. I have a big announcement to make.

We've been developing Wordle as a game show for the past two-and-a-half years with The New York Times, and it's official — we are making Wordle Game Show with our host, Savannah Guthrie!"

Amid the disappearance of her mother, who has been missing since February, Guthrie announced that she will lead NBC's new primetime version of the New York Times five-letter word puzzle game.

Sharing the news, she said, "We've been holding this secret between us for a long time now. We're going to make Wordle a game show." Fallon, who was seated next to her, expressed enthusiasm for her role as host.

He said, "I'm so happy it's you. We were looking, we're like, 'Who's the perfect host of this?' We need to have someone that looks like they play Wordle, someone that knows how to run a show and host it, and we did the pilot, and you are amazing, by the way."

As reported by USA Today, NBC called Guthrie an "avid Wordle player" and said she was a natural choice for the show. According to the network, contestants will compete in team-oriented "squad" competitions while trying to solve word puzzles for money.

During the project discussion on Today, Guthrie revealed that the pilot was initially set to be filmed in March. Plans were paused after her mother went missing. The host stepped away from Today for two months during that period. NBC, Fallon, and The New York Times agreed to pause the project.

She thanked them for their patience and called the new opportunity a "source of joy amid a challenging period."

It has now been 100 days since Nancy Guthrie vanished from her Catalina Foothills home. While there have been no breakthroughs in the case, officials said the investigation continues with "promising" leads.

According to Mandatory, Guthrie was last seen on the night of Jan. 31, 2026. She did not appear for an online church service the following morning, after which a missing persons report was filed on Feb. 1. Detectives said the 84-year-old was abducted after doorbell camera footage showed a masked person tampering with the device.

Guthrie's relatives have announced a $1 million reward for information that leads to finding her, in addition to the FBI's $100,000 reward.