Today has gone through its fair share of changes over its many decades on NBC, and the wait is still on in the 2025 TV schedule for who the next permanent member of the team will be after Hoda Kotb's departure back in January. The daytime television program has cycled guests in and out over the past several months to join Jenna Bush Hager in the fourth hour of the program, with Scarlett Johansson as a standout. While the all-time highest-grossing actor is unlikely to accept a full-time daytime TV gig any time soon, Carson Daly has a couple of guest hosts who he thinks would be great fits for a permanent chair.
While Scarlett Johansson's explanation for why she took the temporary Today co-hosting gig also explains why she's not ready for hours of live TV every weekday, longtime Today contributor Carson Daly shared his take on the current vacancy with Us Weekly:
I’ve loved a lot [of the cohosts]. I loved Dwayne Wade. I thought he was awesome. Every time Erin Andrews is on, I’m like, ‘She’s amazing.’ Scarlett Johansson is everybody’s favorite, but she happens to be Hollywood’s most expensive actor. We can’t afford her, but she loves doing it.
Daly, who is currently a feature anchor on Today, dropped some notable names as possible stars to join Jenna Bush Hagar's hour of the broadcast, previously known as Today With Hoda & Jenna and currently titled Today With Jenna & Friends. Apparently, two of those "friends" that made a strong impression on The Voice host were TV personality/sportscaster/former Dancing with the Stars host Erin Andrews and NBA legend Dwyane Wade.
That's not to say that Carson Daly was dropping hints when he named Erin Andrews and Dwyane Wade, however. He also shared that he asks "all the time" about who could take over as Jenna Bush Hager's next permanent cohost, but suggested that the Today team wants "to keep this rotating thing going." That fits with what Jenna Bush Hager herself said earlier this summer about still being on the search for somebody permanent to join her segment of the show.
Daly also shared that the rotating guest hosts "keeps things fresh," and acknowledged that "Jenna’s had a lot of really good people" in the months since Hoda Kotb stepped down. Other celebrities who joined the Jenna & Friends hour so this year include Taraji P. Henson, Keke Palmer, Ciara, Andy Cohen, Bowen Yang, Tyra Banks, Olivia Munn, and Wynonna Judd, among others.
Since the start of the year, both Erin Andrews and Dwyane Wade have hosted two full, nonconsecutive weeks of episodes opposite Jenna Bush Hager. Both guests spent the same amount of time in the seat that belonged to Hoda Kotb before her retirement from Today, but Andrews and Wade both bring different qualities to the show.
It remains to be seen when the time comes for Today to appoint a permanent cohost for Jenna Bush Hager, so guest hosts dropping in and out may continue to be the approach for the time being. Erin Andrews was the most recent cohost at the time of writing, but per Today, the daytime show will be airing "Best-of episodes" from Monday, August 18 - Friday, August 29.
