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WASHINGTON — “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” on CBS will air is final episode on Thursday, May 21, 2026.
Stephen Colbert shared the announcement Tuesday on an episode of “Late Night with Seth Meyers.”
“It feels real now,” Colbert said on “Late Night.” “I’m not thrilled with it.”
When asked what he’d miss most about hosting the show weeknights, Colbert responded, saying it’s the people.
“That’s really what I care about, and that’s really what I’m going to miss more than anything,” he explained. “And we’ll do something else together.”
The network previously said the long-running late-night franchise would end sometime in May 2026, after news broke last year that CBS planned to shut down the show entirely.
The May 21 date formally marks the end of the series, as well as the end of late-night programming on CBS.
Colbert first revealed the cancellation during a taping in July, telling his studio audience that the 2025-2026 season would be his last.
“Next year will be our last season. Network will be ending ‘The Late Show’ in May,” Colbert said at the time, drawing boos from the crowd.
“I share your feelings,” Colbert said with a laugh. “It’s not just the end of ‘The Late Show,’ but it’s the end of a late show on CBS. I’m not being replaced. This is all just going away.”
CBS executives have emphasized that the decision was financial and not tied to the show’s content or performance.
“‘The Late Show With Stephen Colbert’ will end its historic run in May 2026 at the end of the broadcast season. 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,” executives with Paramount and CBS said a statement to Deadline.
Colbert, meanwhile, has not disclosed any concrete details on what he plans to do next, though he has appeared to address rumors about a writing a book or a potential deal with Netflix.
“There’s been a whole host of things that people have speculated that I will do next,” Colbert said. “I’m neither going to confirm or deny any of these, or many of these, because I’ve got to keep my options open.”
“The Late Show” franchise has aired on CBS since 1993, beginning with David Letterman and later transitioning to Colbert in 2015.
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