Scarlett Johansson gave an insider’s clue about who might replace Hoda Kotb as Jenna Bush Hager‘s co-host on the Today show.
Johansson served as a guest host alongside Bush Hager back in January as part of her new segment titled Jenna & Friends which welcomes a different celebrity host each week until the network lands on a more permanent host for Kotb, who left the show in early January. Craig Melvin has replaced Kotb for the show’s 7 to 8 am hours alongside Savannah Guthrie.
Even though Johansson not planning on taking over the role permanently, she has a good guess about what kind of person we can expect to see.
“I think with Hoda, it was so great because she was like, you know, a little older, but with kids,” Johansson said in a March 11 interview with InStyle of who she expects to see in the role while also explaining why she isn’t the best fit — despite how excited social media users were to see her on their screens.
Johansson, who said Kotb was like a mentor, added, “She was a little step ahead.” She also guessed that the new co-host should be spicy. “Jenna needs to be with someone funny.”
As for why she isn’t interested in appearing in the slot on a more regular basis, Johansson said that while the role “is a fantasy job for me” it’s the kind of experience she doesn’t want on a daily basis.
“I like every element of that job, because I love talking to people. It’s not dissimilar from hosting Saturday Night Live in some ways,” said Johansson, who is a member of SNL’s prestigious Five-Timers Club and is married to SNL writer and star Colin Jost. “The live element of it is really fun. Spontaneous and a little dangerous too. I would never want my own TV show.”
Bush Hager, who has been co-hosting with a rotating group of people after Kotb left the show in January, did have high-praise for her former guest host, even if their time on the show together was only brief.
“She’s intentional,” Bush Hager said of Johansson. “And she wears cool clothes. Scarlett is an Avenger. But her badassery is not surpassed by her kindness and her generosity. It’s miraculous for somebody who’s been in this industry for so long, which can turn people… You know, into not kind and generous.”
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