Savannah Guthrie returned to NBC‘s “Today” on April 6 amid the continued disappearance of her mother, Nancy. Joined by co-anchor Craig Melvin, Guthrie got right into the news and did not spend any time addressing the ongoing investigation into her mother’s whereabouts. Guthrie tee’d up the morning’s big stories, from Trump’s war in Iran to inflated gas prices, the Artemis II mission to journey around the moon, Prince William and Kate Middleton attending their first Easter service in three years and more.
“It is good to be home,” Guthrie declared afterward, the only nod to her absence at the top of the show. “Ready or not, let’s do the news.”
“So good to have you home,” Melvin added.
About 20 minutes into the broadcast, Guthrie and Melvin threw to Al Roker for the morning’s first weather update. “I just like looking over here,” Roker said while looking at Guthrie in a loving nod to her return. She replied, “Good morning, sunshine.”
Jenna Bush Hager also embraced Guthrie’s return. Fifty minutes into the broadcast, Hager appeared for her “Morning Boost” segment and reached out to hold Guthrie’s hand and declared: “We don’t even need a boost because we have our sunshine back.”
Later in the show, Guthrie got choked up when she walked out into the “Today” plaza as the public crowd gathered around the studio cheered for her. Many of the fans in attendance were holding signs welcoming Guthrie back to the show. One sign included a photo of Guthrie posing with her mom, Nancy.
“These signs are so beautiful,” Guthrie said fighting through tears. “You guys have been so beautiful. I’ve received so many letters, so much kindness to me and my whole family. We feel it. We feel your prayers. So thank you so much.”
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Guthrie announced March 27 that she would be returning to the “Today” anchor desk this month as the search for her mother continues. Nancy Guthrie was reported missing on Feb. 1, with the Pima County Sheriff’s Department calling her disappearance a presumed kidnapping after they found concerning evidence at her home in Tucson, Arizona. The FBI joined in the search for Nancy and posted a $100,000 reward for information leading to her recovery. It was later increased to $200,000 and then $1 million on Feb. 24. No arrests have been made in the case, nor have any suspects been publicly revealed.
In the interview with Hoda Kotb in which Guthrie announced her “Today” return date, she admitted “it’s hard to imagine” coming back to the morning show because “it’s such a place of joy and lightness.” But she also noted that she considers her “Today” co-anchors her family and “when times are hard, you want to be with your family.”
“I can’t come back and try to be something that I’m not. But I can’t not come back, because it’s my family,” Guthrie said. “I think it’s part of my purpose right now. I want to smile. And when I do, it will be real. And my joy will be my protest.”
She later concluded, “I don’t know if I can do it. I don’t know if I’ll belong anymore. But I would like to try. And I’m not going to be the same, but maybe it’s like that old poem: ‘More beautiful in the broken places.’”
In a Variety digital cover story preceding Guthrie’s return, sources said advertisers were eager for Guthrie to come back to the show, as are audiences, who are rooting for Guthrie to succeed even if coverage might feel a bit different during the first few days of her return.
From Variety US