NEW YORK — ‘The Late Show with Stephen Colbert’ will be ending in May 2026, CBS announced. The network will also be retiring its ‘Late Show’ franchise, which has been on the nightly airwaves for 30 years.
“‘THE LATE SHOW with STEPHEN COLBERT’ will end its historic run in May 2026 at the end of the broadcast season,” the company said in a statement. “We consider Stephen Colbert irreplaceable and will retire ‘THE LATE SHOW’ franchise at that time. We are proud that Stephen called CBS home. He and the broadcast will be remembered in the pantheon of greats that graced late night television.”
“This is purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night. It is not related in any way to the show’s performance, content or other matters happening at Paramount,” the company added.
Colbert broke the news to his audience during Thursday’s taping. The news was met with boos by fans.
The Late Show host went on to say how grateful he was for the audience and everyone working behind the scenes.
Colbert has been on The Late Show since September 2015. The franchise first started in 1993 with David Letterman as the host to compete with other Late Night hosts on NBC and ABC Networks.
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