Jimmy Fallon’s newest project shows that NBC isn’t just keeping him around but actually doubling down.
NBC announced that Fallon will executive produce a new game show based on Wordle, the wildly popular app. It marks another major collaboration between Fallon and NBC at a time when late-night hosts face increasing uncertainty.
According to Deadline, Fallon is producing the game show via his Electric Hot Dog company. Savannah Guthrie, another NBC talent, is expected to host. The show will film in the UK, but no release date has been announced just yet.
The project adds to an increasingly long list of joint ventures between Fallon and NBC. In addition to hosting The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Fallon also serves as an executive producer on NBC’s celebrity competition That’s My Jam and its reboot of the classic game show Password, which he frequently appears on. He’s also behind the recently launched business competition series On Brand, where entrepreneurs pitch products inspired by pop culture and entertainment. Taken together, these ventures form a small empire of Fallon-led content under the NBC umbrella.
At a time when the late-night landscape feels uncertain, Fallon’s expanding partnership with NBC stands out. Networks have been rethinking their approach to late-night programming, with some scaling back investment or canceling long-running shows entirely. CBS is ready to completely abandon the genre after cancelling After Midnight and The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. And ABC didn't exactly give Jimmy Kimmel Live! a vote of confidence when it suspended the show. Yet, NBC continues to build around Fallon, confirming Lorne Michaels' prediction that Fallon and Seth Meyers were safe at NBC.
Part of that may come down to Fallon's broad appeal. The Tonight Show host has long favored an apolitical, good-natured brand of humor that separates him from his more outspoken late-night colleagues. While hosts like Stephen Colbert, Seth Meyers, and Jimmy Kimmel lean heavily into political commentary, Fallon often avoids it as much as possible. His preference for celebrity games, musical impressions, and viral sketches has kept The Tonight Show relatively controversy-free, even if it sometimes makes him seem out of step with the rest of late-night.
Clearly, NBC appreciates Fallon's approach and has no hesitation about making him the face of the network. Fallon is a reliable talent who rarely causes problems and is capable of generating family-friendly content across multiple genres.
With Wordle, Fallon continues to play to his strengths: lighthearted vibes, celebrity appeal, and family fun. And as other networks look for ways to reinvent or downsize their late-night strategies, Fallon’s ongoing partnership with NBC suggests the network isn’t looking to move on anytime soon.