Hoda Kotb Wants Jenna Bush Hager To Be a Part of the Casting Process for Her Replacement

It’s a big mystery as to who will fill Hoda Kotb‘s big shoes on Today because she’s been such a sparkling presence on the morning show for 17 years. The replacement has not been announced for the first two hours or the fourth hour’s Today with Hoda and Jenna, but Kotb has some advice for her co-host, Jenna Bush Hager. 

“The person who I want is someone who has beautiful chemistry with Jenna,” Hoda told E! News. “That’s all I want. Because it’s never about either anchor, it’s about what’s between. So, bring the chemistry.” The question is who will fill that seat? Of course, the 60-year-old news personality has an answer for that too without going into specifics. 

“I don’t care if it’s her best friend, I don’t care if it’s someone she’s worked with if it’s some celeb,” she said. “When she gets in sync, that’s it. If she has chemistry, it will be beautiful.” Kotb hopes that Hager will make her voice heard during the process of finding a new co-host, too. “I said ‘Jenna, feel who you want. Feel what feels right for you,'” she added. “She’ll know, because the only way it’s going to work is if they got a vibe or not. Just the fun party vibe. It can’t be forced.”

It’s unclear if NBC News will find one or two replacements for Kotb, who has bridged the morning’s hard news segments with Savannah Guthrie and the lifestyle hour with Hager. It will require a very versatile TV personality to cover both spots. MSNBC’s Morning Joe co-host Willie Geist has been mentioned, but he doesn’t necessarily feel like the right fit for the fourth hour. Third-hour co-host Sheinelle Jones makes a lot of sense since she can fulfill both segments and is already a friendly face with Today viewers. 

Kotb announced her shocking departure from the show on Sept. 26 fueled by her 60th birthday and the desire to spend more time with her daughters, Haley, 7, and Hope, 5. “Obviously I had my kiddos late in life, and I was thinking that they deserve a bigger piece of my time pie that I have,” Kotb said on the show. “I feel like we only have a finite amount of time. And so, with all that being said, this is the hardest thing in the world.”

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