Will Megyn Kelly bump Days of Our Lives from daytime TV? NBC soap opera's cast is warned next season could be their last just days after host announced her move
- Megyn Kelly will formally join NBC in July and will host a daytime talk show
- Days of Our Lives cast members were told their show is on the chopping block
- This shake-up comes amid rumors that Kelly could replace Savannah Guthrie on the Today Show
- The daytime soap opera will air its 13,000th episode next week
Megyn Kelly‘s arrival at NBC could be the final sands through the hourglass for Days of Our Lives.
Cast members on the soap opera were recently informed that the next year of the show will be its final season, People reports, just days after the 46-year-old journalist departed Fox News for a position at the Peacock Network.
A source told the magazine that network executives have given strong indicators that the program - which is only renewed through the current year - is on the chopping block: 'Basically, we’ve heard that there won’t be a Days in 2018.'
And this move would not be the only shake-up at NBC.
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New gun in town: Megyn Kelly's signing with NBC could spell doom for its long-running daytime soap Days of Our Lives, sources told People. Here, the 46-year-old beauty was snapped at an event in Hollywood last month
Last hurrah? Cast members (left-right) Christopher Sean, Wally Kurth, Marci Miller, Billy Flynn, Galen Gering, Stephen Nichols and Olivia Rose Keegan posed at a show event in LA last month
It comes amid reports that Kelly might replace Savannah Guthrie, 45, as co-host on the Today Show.
An insider told the New York Post: 'There is a rumor on set that Megyn would eventually get the lead anchor role on Today, pushing Savannah out.'
The other co-host is Matt Lauer.
Guthrie returned to the Today Show this morning following maternity leave, surprising Lauer and her co-workers.
Lauer and Guthrie were told just moments before the news Kelly would join NBC became public - Chuck Todd, anchor of MSNBC's Meet the Press, and Lester Holt, face of NBC Nightly News, were also kept in the dark.
Days of Our Lives, which first aired November 8, 1965, could be in jeopardy after NBC News chairman Andrew Lack mapped out three potential roles for Kelly to fill for the network's news bureau.
They are a Sunday night newsmagazine; a featured spot for special political events; and a daytime news-talk show. The soap's current 1 p.m.- 2 p.m. slot in a majority of the markets could be earmarked for the latter.
NBC's competitors have implemented similar moves in the past, as ABC cancelled iconic soaps All My Children and One Life to Live five years ago to clear space for shows such as The Chew and The Revolution; while CBS shuttered the stalwart Guiding Light in lieu of an updated Let’s Make A Deal program.
Kelly's duties at the network remain largely undefined, the insider told the outlet that 'nobody knows when [she] starts,' and 'nobody knows what she is going to be doing.
Coveted get: NBC officials have already mapped out a number of big plans for the high-profile journalist in the wake of her signing with the network
Longtime legacy: Cast and crew celebrated the daytime soap's 13,000th episode last summer
'There is so much that has to still be arranged ... she is still under contract at Fox until July, then she has a six-month non-compete' clause to honor.
Kelly - whose chilly dealings with President-elect Donald Trump made headlines throughout the past election cycle - described to the AP the dilemma she faced in her dealings with the reality star-turned-politician, as one of the faces of the conservative Fox News network.
'I really had to choose: Am I going to be an honest journalist?' she said. 'Or am I going to suck up to Trump? I chose the former, and it's worked out fine for me.'
Star-maker? Kelly's profile has risen substantially in the wake of her divisive worlds with Trump
In departing the network, she tweeted she was 'delighted to be joining the NBC News family and taking on a new challenge,' adding that she would miss her 'colleagues at Fox.'
Upon inking Kelly to NBC, Lack called his new hire 'an exceptional journalist and news anchor, who has had an extraordinary career' and 'demonstrated tremendous skill and poise.
'And we're lucky to have her.'
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