Carson Daly Reveals Why One A-List Actress Is Out of the Running for Jenna Bush’s ‘Today’ Co-Host

The TODAY show is still on the hunt for Jenna Bush Hager’s fourth hour co-host — but Carson Daly is ruling out one A-Lister.

Bush Hager has been joined by a rotating panel of guest hosts on Today With Jenna & Friends following co-star Hoda Kotb’s decision to step away from the morning show in January.

Scarlett Johansson, Dwayne Wade, Erin Andrews, Taraji P. Henson, Keke Palmer and Amy Poehler have all been among the celebrities who have filled in along the way, but Daly told Us Weekly Monday that he didn’t think NBC was any closer to filling the role permanently.

“I ask all the time,” the TODAY show star said when asked about his insight on the matter. “I think they want to keep this rotating thing going.”

“I’ve loved a lot [of the cohosts],” he continued. “I loved Dwayne Wade. I thought he was awesome. Every time Erin Andrews is on, I’m like, ‘She’s amazing.’”

While Johansson is “everybody’s favorite,” he continued, the Jurassic World Rebirth star “happens to be Hollywood’s most expensive actor.” He confessed, “We can’t afford her, but she loves doing it.”

Variety reported in July that Johansson was the highest-grossing actor of all time, with her role as Black Widow in the Marvel Cinematic Universe being noted as especially profitable.

If it were up to Daly, he said he might keep the rotating cast going, saying Monday that he feels “it keeps things fresh.”

Kotb stepped back from TODAY in January after 17 years, with Craig Melvin replacing her as Savannah Guthrie’s news co-anchor.

In June, Bush Hager told PEOPLE that the show was “still searching” for a long-term replacement. “We definitely want somebody permanent at some point just because that’s our show, and I think the TODAY show is such a family,” she said.

“So to have somebody sit in that seat means a lot to all of us. So it will happen,” she continued. “I think we’ve all just been kind of living day by day, and we don’t have any developments yet, but we will.”

Kotb had told Bush Hager when announcing her exit in September 2024, “Whoever sits in this seat is going to have the easiest job in the world ‘cause they’re sitting next to you. The only thing they have to do is not laugh so hard they pee their pants. That’s it. They just have to hang on. You are this bright light, you always have been, and it’s your turn.”