Fallon announced the show’s development during a guest appearance on Guthrie’s TODAY show on Monday, revealing that the show has been in development for about two and a half years.
WASHINGTON — Wordle is making his television debut.
The New York Times puzzle app, which has been obsessed with guessing five-letter words in group chats since 2021, is getting its own game show on NBC, hosted by Savannah Guthrie and produced by talk show host Jimmy Fallon.
fallon announces show Appeared as a guest on Guthrie’s TODAY show On Monday, he said he has been developing a game show adaptation of Wordle with The New York Times for about two and a half years.
“It’s been a secret between us for a long time,” said “Today” host Guthrie, who revealed she had already taped the pilot.
On Fallon’s “Tonight Show,” the bubbly talk show host will play the game live, with the studio audience shouting out their guesses. In a recent episode, Fallon ran across the stage and pumped his fist after guessing the word “ABBEY” five times.
“This is the first game in decades that everyone plays,” Fallon said Monday. “It’s very social…I got it at two o’clock this morning.”
Guthrie said she’s been a fan of the puzzle game since its release and even started her own Wordle group chat with “Today” co-host Carson Daly and his wife.
Welsh software engineer Josh Wardle released Wordle in late 2021, and it quickly gained popularity as its results became shareable. In 2022, The New York Times acquired the game for over $1 million.
Capitalizing on the popularity of the puzzle game, Lingo, a game show hosted and produced by drag queen RuPaul, will be re-aired on CBS in 2023-2024. The show has a similar guessing format to Wordle and actually predates Wordle’s creation. It was first held in the United States in the 1980s and was hosted by Michael Reagan, son of then-President Ronald Reagan.
Fallon said his game’s opening word was “ocean,” while Guthrie said hers was “share.”
“It has common words and is a good mantra for life,” Guthrie said.
The “Wordle” game show will begin taping its remaining episodes this summer, and the contestant pool remains open. Anyone who wants to apply can access Wordle.Castingcrane.com Before the deadline on May 29 at 8pm ET. A pilot date has not yet been announced.
