Wordle is getting a TV show

 Wordle is getting a TV show

Niv Bavarsky

A five-letter word for the puzzle’s next destination: TELLY. A Wordle game show is set to air on NBC next year, the New York Times announced yesterday, marking the gaming company’s publication’s latest bid to expand its business beyond news. Billed as fast-paced and family-friendly: The half-hour-long, cash-prize show will be co-produced by NYT, the notorious giggler Jimmy Fallon, and a division of NBCUniversal. It’ll be hosted by Today co-anchor Savannah Guthrie, a longtime Wordle fan who did a behind-the-scenes feature on NYT Games last year. Filming on the new show was delayed from March to this summer amid the initial search for Guthrie’s mother, Nancy, who remains missing. A first for NYT: The publication has previously worked with cable and streaming services to make documentaries and a series inspired by its Modern Love column, but it has never before gotten involved with primetime entertainment on a major broadcast network. The financial terms of the NBC deal weren’t disclosed. Game on: After NYT bought Wordle in 2022 for low-seven figures, the popular puzzle almost instantly attracted “tens of millions” of new users to the news publisher. Since then, NYT has expanded its thriving Games unit, which has helped shield it from the pain of broader declines in news consumption.