Apr 07, 2026
3 min read
Savannah Guthrie has returned to host NBC's "Today" for the first time since her mother disappeared more than two months ago.
Savannah Guthrie returns to the anchor chair of 'Heddiw' for the first time since the loss of her mother
Savannah Guthrie returns to 'Today' anchor chair for first time since losing her mother
NEW YORK (AP) — Savannah Guthrie returned to nearly all her duties Monday at the anchor desk of NBC's "Today," marking a comeback for the first time in more than two months since her mother disappeared."Here we go, ready or not," Guthrie said at the show's opening.
"We're glad you started your week with us and it's good to be home," Guthrie said after a series of news reports."It's good to be back home," co-star Craig Melvin said.
She greeted longtime co-star Al Roker with "Good morning, Sunshine," commenting that he was glad to see her on set.She gave Melvin a high-five at the end of the show's first 25-minute segment.
The mood lifted half an hour before the finale, when she joined her co-stars in front of a crowd of fans in the show's Rockefeller Center studio.
Guthrie said it's hard to move forward without knowing what's going on
Guthrie, one of the familiar faces of morning television, has been the host of "Today" since 2012. He admits that he is a stranger and that it is difficult to move forward without knowing what happened to Nancy Guthrie, who believes that he was taken against his will from his Arizona home.
Despite an extensive search involving thousands of federal and local officials and volunteers, no trace of the 84-year-old mother of three has been found since she was reported missing on February 1.
The "Today" show has been following the story closely for the past two months, but it was not mentioned in the first hour of its return on Monday.The normalization was clearly intentional: Her return was not addressed during interviews with NBC's Gabe Gutierrez at the White House and military analyst Steve Warren on the show's set.
Hoda Kotb, the former host who filled in for Guthrie for the past two months and interviewed former colleagues, was not available Monday.
"Today" has seen ratings growth over the past two months and even surpassed ABC's "Good Morning America" as the top-rated morning show.The shows aren't the profit generator they once were for the networks, but competition is still fierce.
"Haut" averaged 3.1 million viewers in the first three months of the year, up nearly 9% in a period when most shows lost viewers.It's hard to say how much the Guthrie story has to do with it: NBC also aired the Super Bowl and the Winter Olympics in February, and both events helped the morning show's ratings.
“Good Morning America” averaged 2.93 million viewers, up 2% from 2025, while “CBS Mornings” fell 17% to 1.76 million, according to Nielsen.
As part of a video message released by his New York church on Easter Sunday, Guthrie spoke of feeling "a moment of deep disappointment with God, a sense of complete abandonment."But he said the resurrection is not fully celebrated "if we do not recognize the feelings of loss, pain, and yes, death."
When he announced his return to NBC's flagship morning show, Guthrie said he wasn't sure if he would feel like himself.
"It's hard to think about doing this from a place of happiness and innocence," he said more than a week ago on "Today" in his first interview since the loss.
He couldn't imagine putting on a show that is usually frivolous and mixed with serious and breaking news.
Guthrie's mother occasionally visited the set of the show.
There had been a great deal of speculation about whether she would return.
"I want to smile, and if I do, it's going to be real," he told Hoda Kotb, who returned to "Today" to fill in while Guthrie focused on the search."Being there is exciting, and if it's not, I'll say so."
Over the years, Nancy Guthrie made sporadic appearances on the "Today" show, once participating in a cooking demonstration and surprising her daughter on set.When Savannah Guthrie returned to her hometown of Tucson in 2025 for a segment taped for the show, the two visited one of their favorite restaurants and talked about their love for Arizona.
The Guthrie family is offering a $1 million reward for information leading to the mother's recovery.
Authorities believe Nancy Guthrie was abducted, kidnapped or held against her will after blood was found near the front door of her home in the foothills outside of Tucson.The FBI later released surveillance video showing a masked man on the porch that night.Volunteers and search teams scoured the nearby desert, which is filled with tamarind trees, bushes and rocks in the first week after she disappeared.
But attention has waned from the investigation, which had been declared a top priority by the FBI and local authorities.Investigators haven't released new evidence in weeks and say the number of tips has slowed.The FBI and the Pima County Sheriff's Department both said late last week that they had no update.
Initially, some media outlets reported receiving a ransom note in connection with the case.Guthrie said the two who believed they were real and their brothers responded and offered money.
Guthrie said her celebrity status may have been the reason her mother was taken, but said it was likely "too much to bear".
Associated Press correspondents John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio, and Sarah Brumfield in Washington contributed to this report.
