Ken Jennings will officially take over as host of Jeopardy! following the death of legendary host Alex Trebek. For now, that is.
The syndicated trivia titan of a game show announced Monday that it would resume taping episodes following Trebek’s death from pancreatic cancer, with Jennings as the first of what’s apparently a series of guest hosts continuing the season while the show searches for a permanent replacement.
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
The news came as part of a larger announcement about what the show will do to honor Trebek in the wake of his death. New episodes with him as host will air in syndication until December 25, and on Monday news came that there would be a greatest hits of sorts also airing in tribute to Trebek.
“Alex believed in the importance of Jeopardy! and always said that he wanted the show to go on after him,” Jeopardy! executive producer Mike Richards said in a statement. “We will honor Alex’s legacy by continuing to produce the game he loved with smart contestants and challenging clues. By bringing in familiar guest hosts for the foreseeable future, our goal is to create a sense of community and continuity for our viewers.”
Jennings will take over as Jeopardy! host on November 30, when the show begins to tape again. And the news makes it sound more like a trial run for Jennings as host than an official announcement that he’s taking over full-time, as many have speculated. Whether that becomes official seems unclear right now, but Jennings is a logical solution both in the long and short-term. He already works on the show behind the scenes, and he certainly is recognizable among fans as the official Greatest Of All Time after his win in the Jeopardy! GOAT Tournament, which aired in January.