Ken Jennings will step in as the new interim host of Jeopardy! when production resumes on November 30th.
Jennings, Jeopardy!’s all-time champion, will be the first in “a series of interim guest hosts from the Jeopardy! family” who will fill in for the late Alex Trebek, who passed away on November 8th following a battle with pancreatic cancer. Additional guest hosts will be announced in the future.
“Alex believed in the important of Jeopardy! and always said that he wanted the show to go on after him,” said Jeopardy! executive producer Mike Richards in a statement. “We will honor his legacy by continuing to produce the game he loved.”
Jennings has long been a favorite to replace Trebek as host of Jeopardy!, but it seems producers aren’t ready to hand him the gig just yet. Instead, it looks like they’ll be auditioning a series of possible candidates under the guise of “interim” hosts before settling on a permanent replacement.
Trebek continued to film new episodes of Jeopardy! until weeks prior to death and new episodes with him as host will air through the end of the year. Jeopardy! is also planning to air 10 of Trebek’s best episodes during the weeks of December 21st and 28th.
We will resume production on 11/30 with a series of interim guest hosts from the Jeopardy! family – starting with Ken Jennings. Additional guest hosts to be announced. pic.twitter.com/0MdGqnzp3R
— Jeopardy! (@Jeopardy) November 23, 2020