Dylan Dreyer thinks that Hoda Kotb’s Today replacement will be someone that audiences already know and love.
Hoda, 60, first announced she was leaving Today during an emotional episode on Thursday, September 26. That same day, Dylan, 43, walked the red carpet at the 2024 People’s Choice Country Awards, where she opened up about her reaction to the news and who could potentially replace Hoda.
“I don’t think if they named anyone in our core group of people it would be surprising,” she told E! News at the country music event. “We’ve all filled in along the way when somebody’s out. I don’t know if anybody’s made any decisions yet, but if it’s one of the core group, I really don’t think it’s that surprising.”
Hoda will mark her final episode as a cohost on Today in early 2025. No official replacement has been announced by NBC just yet as to who will sit next to Jenna Bush Hager at the news desk in the show’s fourth hour. However, Dylan’s comment implies that there is a strong possibility that a fan favorite will take over Hoda’s role in the show’s early morning hours and on Today With Hoda & Jenna.
The current roster of weekday Today hosts includes Hoda, Dylan, Jenna, 42, Savannah Guthrie, Al Roker, Craig Melvin, Sheinelle Jones and Carson Daly. Weekend Today anchors include Peter Alexander, Laura Jarrett, Joe Fryer and Willie Geist.
Dylan admitted that she did not know Hoda was leaving the show in advance. It came as a shock to her on the day of.
“I knew about 10 minutes before the show started,” she told the outlet. “Which, I think, is when everybody kind of found out.”
Hoda explained that her goal is to spend more time with her daughters, Haley and Hope, in this next chapter of her life.
“I realized that it was time for me to turn the page at 60, and to try something new,” Hoda said on Thursday. “I remembered standing outside looking at these beautiful bunch of people with these gorgeous signs, and I thought, ‘This is what the top of the wave feels like for me.’ And I thought it can’t get better, and I decided that this is the right time for me to kind of move on.”
On Friday, September 27, Hoda received a warm reception as she walked along the Today plaza with guest Dwayne Wade. Fans greeted her and snapped photos with her as she enjoyed Chris Stapleton’s concert on Today.
“Remember I told you the top of the wave was when I turned 60? I’d like to amend that. The top of the wave was yesterday. That was really the most beautiful thing. It’s sort of like … sometimes I think about receiving flowers at this point, not, you know, at another point, and it was the most beautiful thing in the world,” Hoda reflected on the outpouring of support she received after making the announcement.
“I went home, and my daughter threw up in the car, and we watched TV, and I was just sitting there thinking about it, and then four neighbor kids came over and it was like pizza party. And a couple of friends call, and they go, ‘Are you reflecting?’ and I held the phone out like ‘Listen to this crazy pizza party,’” she told her cohosts. “But it was so beautiful and everything I have dreamt of was last night. Yesterday and last night were two perfect bookends.”
