The Late Show with Stephen Colbert has been canceled and will come to an end in 2026, ending the brand as well.
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After a decade-long run on CBS, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert has been canceled. The news was announced on Thursday, and in conjunction with the show ending, the ‘Late Show’ brand that launched in 1993 with David Letterman will be closing down.
“I’m not being replaced. This is all just going away,” Colbert said in his July 17 episode. “I do want to say that the folks at CBS have been great partners. I’m so grateful to the Tiffany Network for giving me this chair and this beautiful theater to call home. And I am extraordinarily, deeply grateful to the 200 people who work here. We get to do this show for each other, all day, every day.” He went on to conclude, “It is a fantastic job. I wish someone else was getting it.”
“This is purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night,” CBS said in a statement. “It is not related in any way to the show’s performance, content, or other matters happening at Paramount.”
Late-night television, once a staple of networks dating back to the 1950s, has been struggling for some time. This is almost certain to not be the last of these announcements in the coming years.