'There's No Way Savannah's Coming Back': NBC Grapples With the Loss of 'Today' Star After Mom's Abduction — 'No Natural Successor'
Savannah Guthrie has not indicated what her plans are with 'Today' amid her mother's apparent abduction.
Feb. 19 2026, Published 5:45 p.m. ET
As NBC and Today grapple over coverage of host Savannah Guthrie's abducted mom, Nancy, executives fear she may never return to the show, RadarOnline.com can reveal.
Nearly three weeks have passed since Nancy was seemingly forcibly taken from her Tucson, Arizona, home, and some brass behind the scenes don't think Savannah will want to come back to her life on TV after experiencing such a soul-crushing and high-profile true crime case.
'There's No Way Savannah's Coming Back'
Craig Melvin joined Savannah Guthrie as her co-host in January 2025.
"There’s no way Savannah’s coming back," one veteran executive told the Status newsletter about her longtime position on Today. "I can’t imagine she would even want to."
The former lawyer has been the co-host of Today since 2012 and has taken on an even bigger profile since Matt Lauer's scandalous 2017 firing.
While Hoda Kotb was elevated to join Savannah on the prime 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. hours, she retired in January 2025 to spend more time with her young adopted daughters. Craig Melvin was named Kotb's successor.
Now, NBC is in a panic about what to do if the network's most popular morning show star decides to leave her position after her elderly mom's kidnapping.
Savannah Guthrie Is the 'Glue' that Holds 'Today' Show Together
Savannah Guthrie has co-hosted 'Today' for 13 years and is one of morning TV's most popular personalities.
Over the last few weeks, NBC has given Savannah all the time she needs to deal with her mom's disappearance. While Kotb has returned to fill in for her former co-host, insiders stressed that it would be a major blow to Today if they lost Savannah entirely.
"If you could pick one person across the span of morning TV that a show would not want to lose, it would be Savannah," a second veteran executive told Status about how valuable she is.
"Savannah was always the glue on that show, and without that, this whole paradigm of our morning anchor team as a family, that connective tissue has just been ripped out," the insider added.
Hoda Kotb Is Not a 'Long-Term Answer'
Former 'Today' co-host Hoda Kotb has been filling in for Savannah Guthrie.
While Kotb has been a familiar and comforting face for Today viewers during Savannah's family's heartbreak, she's not a viable prospect to take over should the Arizona native choose not to return to the show.
One exec said the Joy 101 founder is a temporary "band aid," and not a "long-term answer."
While Kotb claimed her reason for departing Today was to be a more active presence in her daughters' lives, an insider suggested there was more to it.
"She left for a reason, which was because they weren’t paying her as much," the spy dished.
However, Kotb sticking around for a year or two if Savannah doesn't come back would provide the network "a chance to try out people internally, without it being an optics problem," when it comes to an eventual replacement.
'We Still Have Hope'
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There are still no suspects or motive in Savannah Guthrie's mother's kidnapping.
Savannah has not indicated her plans as she holds onto hope that her mother will be found.
As Radar previously reported, Nancy was abducted in the early morning hours of February 1 and hasn't been heard from since. There has been no proof that the grandmother, who is in frail health and needs daily medication, is still alive. However, the Guthrie family has refused to give up.
In an Instagram video shared on February 15, Savannah pleaded with the person who took her mother: "I wanted to say to whoever has her or knows where she is, it’s never too late. And you’re not lost, or alone. And it is never too late to do the right thing."
She added, "We still have hope."
