"The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" to end in May 2026

"The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" will end in May 2026, Colbert and CBS announced on Thursday. The company said it will retire "The Late Show" franchise, and called it "purely a financial decision."

"'THE LATE SHOW with STEPHEN COLBERT' will end its historic run in May 2026 at the end of the broadcast season," the company said in a statement. "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."

"This is purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night. It is not related in any way to the show's performance, content or other matters happening at Paramount," the company added.

Colbert broke the news to the audience during Thursday's taping.

"Before we start the show, I want to let you know something I found out just last night," he said. "Next year will be our last season. The network will be ending 'The Late Show' in May."

The audience responded with an outcry of "No!" and boos, and Colbert said, "Yeah, I share your feelings."

He continued: "It's not just the end of our show, it's the end of 'The Late Show' on CBS. I'm not being replaced. This is all just going away. And I do want to say that the folks at CBS have been great partners. I'm so grateful to the Tiffany Network for giving me this chair and this beautiful theater to call home. And of course I'm grateful to you, the audience, who have joined us every night."

Paramount is the parent company of CBS News.