The abduction of Savannah Guthrie’s 84-year-old mother Nancy has captured the attention of so many people, and as five months have passed with very few answers, fans continue to keep an eye on the Today Show anchor. Some reports suggest that NBC even has a contingency plan in place for if Guthrie has to leave the show again for any reason. However, there was talk behind the scenes even before the kidnapping that Guthrie might be on her way out.
Savannah Guthrie took a couple of months away from The Today Show earlier this year to focus on the investigation of her kidnapped mother. She has since returned, of course, but during that time, there was much speculation about whether or not she would come back. Even before that, though, it was allegedly Guthrie’s salary and the changing landscape of network television that executives thought could lead to her exit. According to one former high-level executive (per Vulture):
All of these shows are going to face a reckoning on the salaries of these people. The ratings are not what they used to be, and salaries have not come down commensurately yet. It’s about to happen.
What many may have forgotten was that conversations about Savannah Guthrie’s possible exit had already been underway for over a year when her family emergency occurred.
Back in fall of 2024, when Hoda Kotb announced she was leaving TODAY, there were reports that Savannah Guthrie had also been planning to exit, and that Kotb’s decision upended her potential departure. At one point Guthrie herself even reportedly said:
You can’t do this show forever. At some point, you’ve made all the money you’re going to make, you’ve maxed that out.
All of that seems like a lifetime ago, as we’ve seen Savannah Guthrie leave and then return to her Today Show family as she continues to deal with her mother’s abduction. However, the conversation about her potential exit hasn’t gone away. When she first left to be in Arizona with her family, a junior staffer said:
I couldn’t imagine Savannah coming back and being happy and laughing ever again.
That seemed to be the consensus amongst employees, and while Savannah Guthrie was allegedly “surprised and dismayed” to hear it, a senior-level staffer said:
There was a period of time where if you polled the newsroom, the majority would have told you they’d be stunned if she returned.
A source close to Savannah Guthrie said that even the anchor was allegedly worried about her ability to hold it together on air, as well as the possibility that becoming part of such a terrible news story would put a dark cloud over the show as a whole. Regardless, Guthrie did return, and she remains there today.
Only time will tell if Savannah Guthrie is back for the long run, or if an exit may still be on her mind. Even as she takes on new opportunities at the network — namely becoming the host of the new Wordle game show — there are reportedly concerns that it all may be too much to handle, and there’s always the possibility that a big break in her mother’s case could necessitate another leave of absence.
We’ll have to wait to see what happens, but for now you can continue to see Savannah Guthrie and the whole Today Show crew weekday mornings on NBC.
