“Today” show announces first celebrity guest hosts replacing Hoda Kotb in fourth hour

The new year means that Today co-anchor Hoda Kotb's days on the air are dwindling — and now we know who's stepping in to replace her on Hoda & Jenna.

On Monday, Kotb and cohost Jenna Bush Hager announced the first group of celebrity pals who will fill in as temporary hosts on Today's fourth hour, which is being rechristened Today With Jenna & Friends.

Oscar-nominated actress Taraji P. Henson, Desperate Housewives alum Eva Longoria, and Nope star Keke Palmer will be joining Bush Hager the week of Monday, Jan. 13.

Kotb's last day on both Today and the show's more relaxed fourth hour will be Friday, Jan. 10, NBC previously announced. Craig Melvin will replace Kotb in the show's 7 a.m. and 8 a.m. hours, while Bush Hager will be joined by various rotating cohosts until a permanent replacement is named.

Jenna & Friends is also getting a new theme song, which Bush Hager played on the air Monday, prompting Kotb to tear up. "I was picturing you and how proud I'm going to be of you walking right here from that wall to this desk with that song," Kotb said. "It's going to be awesome, it's going to be amazing."

The popular morning personality announced in September that she had decided to leave the show to spend more time with her family. Kotb is mom to two adopted daughters, 7-year-old Haley and 5-year-old Hope.

"I've been weighing this decision for quite a while — Am I truly ready?" Kotb wrote in a farewell note to staff that was made public. "But, my sixtieth birthday celebration on the Plaza felt like a shift. Like a massive, joyful YES, you are! I saw it all so clearly: my broadcast career has been beyond meaningful, a new decade of my life lies ahead, and now my daughters and my mom need and deserve a bigger slice of my time pie. I will miss you all desperately, but I'm ready and excited."

Kotb has co-anchored the network's main morning news show since 2018, and she's "been part of the fabric at NBC News for nearly three decades," the network said when she announced her departure. She notably co-hosted the previous incarnation of Today's last hour with Kathie Lee Gifford.

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Bush Hager has promised that Kotb's final episode will be epic.

"We are having a Hoda-bration for Hoda's final show, and guess what? We're going to have a live audience," Hager said in December, adding that she would try to make it through without too much crying.

On a happier note, Hager said there would be "big surprises, lots of surprises that Hoda won't even know about."

Related: Hoda Kotb's daughter's time in the ICU pushed her to leave Today: 'I wanted this decade to be different'

As much as Kotb's colleagues and audience will miss her, so will the show's guests. When actress Jamie Lee Curtis visited Today in September, she made Kotb cry with her kind words.

"I'm a little sad, and yet I love you," the Everything Everywhere All at Once actress said. "I heard you on the phone with your daughters this morning, as I've heard you on the phone every time I come here at 7:22 a.m. — you FaceTime your children. You are an absolute treasure, and we are all going to miss you here."

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