NBC orders ‘Wordle’ game show hosted by Savannah Guthrie
By Brian Stelter, CNN
(CNN) — Five years ago, Wordle was just a game that creator Josh Wardle played with his partner. Wardle sold the game to The New York Times. Now it’s becoming a prime-time game show on NBC.
The “Wordle” show, announced Monday, is slated to premiere sometime in 2027, the network said.
The production company is now recruiting contestants for the first season. “We are casting teams of THREE PLAYERS to compete for a chance to win a HUGE CASH PRIZE!” the casting website says.
Would-be contestants are encouraged to submit a video testifying to their love for the word game.
The network should have no shortage of candidates to choose from. Wordle became a phenomenon in 2022 when Wardle’s creation went viral and The New York Times acquired the game.
A television version has been in development for “several years,” according to Caitlin Roper, executive editorial director of film and TV at the Times.
“We wanted to honor the specific thrill of Wordle, the way people play and share their scores with each other, but also make something new for TV,” she said.
The Times collaborated with NBCUniversal and NBC late night host Jimmy Fallon’s production company on the project.
The “Today” show co-host Savannah Guthrie will host the game show, and Fallon joined her to announce the show on Monday morning. They showed clips from a pilot episode that Guthrie taped last year.
It’s “the first game in like decades that everyone plays and everyone talks about,” Fallon said on “Today.”
Guthrie said her kids like to play the game with her.
The NBC edition of “Wordle” may be the first of many. Monday’s announcement said “the ‘Wordle’ format will be licensed globally by NBCUniversal Formats,” which means that networks in other countries could produce local-language versions in the future.
Meredith Kopit Levien, CEO of The New York Times Company, said Wordle on TV “reflects our broader approach of creating experiences people return to and share every day.”
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