Why Savannah Guthrie Was Absent From Today For 2 Days

Craig Melvin Details “Marvel” Savannah Guthrie’s Return to Today

Savannah Guthrie has hopefully picked out her starting word.

After all, the Today show co-anchor was absent from the morning show June 17 and June 18—with Sheinelle Jones filling in for her alongside Craig Melvin—as she was out on an assignment for her upcoming series based on the New York Times game Wordle.

“Sheinelle [is] helping us out while Savannah starts production meetings on the Wordle game show coming to NBC,” Melvin shared on the June 18 episode. “It’s all happening.”

Jones added, “It’s coming. I’m excited for her.”

The new NBC series—produced by Jimmy Fallon—will see contestants play a high-stakes version of Wordle with cash prizes on the line. And Fallon knew immediately that Guthrie was the one for the job.

“We all thought you were going to be great,” the comedian recalled on Today in May. “And then you did it, and the 200 crew and cast, everyone, was like, ‘We can’t do the show without Savannah Guthrie.’ You are fantastic. You were so good.”

As for Guthrie, the 54-year-old was thrilled about her new role and extremely grateful for how understanding Fallon and the Wordle team were when the disappearance of her mother, Nancy Guthrie, delayed plans for the series.

“When everything happened with me and my family,” she said, “they just stopped everything and said, ‘We’ll wait for you.’ And Hollywood is like a really tough business, and I didn’t expect that. And I just want to say thank you, it means so much to me.”

Rob Kim/Getty Images for Project Healthy Minds

And while Guthrie has done her best to keep her focus on her role on Today amid her mother’s almost four-month long disappearance, it hasn’t been without its difficulties.

“It’s always with me,” she admitted to her fellow Today host Jenna Bush Hager on the June 8 episode. “I cry every morning on the way to work, and I cry every morning on the way home. And I’m grateful to have good friends and to be able to come to such a beautiful and joyous and supportive place.”

“Like so many people out there,” Guthrie added, “you can hold all of these things together.”

Don Arnold/WireImage

It’s a message she also tried to pass onto her and husband Michael Feldman’s kids, Vale, 11, and Charles, 9.

“We can hold our sadness and we can hold our joy,” she said. “And if you don’t believe it, just watch me. I’m gonna show you."

For more about her mother’s disappearance, keep reading.

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