In a shocking move, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert is ending in May 2026.
“The Late Show With Stephen Colbert will end its historic run in May 2026 at the end of the broadcast season. We consider Stephen Colbert irreplaceable and will retire The Late Show franchise at that time. We are proud that Stephen called CBS home. He and the broadcast will be remembered in the pantheon of greats that graced late night television,” said George Cheeks, Co-CEO Paramount Global and President and Chief Executive Officer, CBS, Amy Reisenbach, President, CBS Entertainment and David Stapf, President, CBS Studios in a statement.
Colbert, who announced the news during tonight’s taping, said that he was grateful to CBS for giving him the chair. “I’m not being replaced, this is all just going away,” Colbert said.
CBS said this was “purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night”. “It is not related in any way to the show’s performance, content or other matters happening at Paramount,” the trio added.
The shock move coincides with Colbert’s contract coming up at the end of 2026. With Jon Stewart having signed another deal to remain as one of the hosts of The Daily Show, on Paramount-owned sister network Comedy Central, until the end of 2025, could Colbert take the reins of that other storied late-night franchise? Stranger things have happened.
The Late Show began in August 1993 with David Letterman as host, having moved over from NBC after he didn’t get The Tonight Show gig. Letterman retired from the show in May 2015 and Colbert, who had previously starred on The Daily Show and The Colbert Report took over in September 2015.
The timing is interesting as it comes as Skydance is in the process of acquiring Paramount. While it’s unlikely to have been related to noted-Trump hater Colbert’s attacks on the President, the move will give David Ellison and his gang slightly less to worry about when it comes to telling truth to power. Colbert’s old friend Jon Stewart weighed in earlier today on the possibility that Skydance might cancel The Daily Show when it takes over.
It’s a brutal blow for late-night, which has already been struggling in recent years with CBS recently axing After Midnight, the show that replaced The Late Late Show with James Corden instead of replacing host Taylor Tomlinson.
