Ellen DeGeneres is signing off.
Daytime’s most recognizable face has decided her upcoming season, the show’s nineteenth, will be the last. The decision, which fell to DeGeneres, is said to have been several years in the making. She informed her staff May 11, and will sit down with longtime pal and daytime predecessor Oprah Winfrey to discuss the news on Ellen‘s May 13 show.
“When you’re a creative person, you constantly need to be challenged – and as great as this show is, and as fun as it is, it’s just not a challenge anymore,” DeGeneres tells The Hollywood Reporter, discussing the move publicly for the first time.
Timing her departure is something DeGeneres has openly wrestled with in the past. In a 2018 New York Times profile, she revealed that her actress wife, Portia de Rossi, had been encouraging her to move on from the 180-shows-a-year gig, while her comedian brother, along with executives at Warner Bros., had urged her to continue. In the end, DeGeneres signed on for three more seasons, but was clear with herself and her team that this contract — which would take her well beyond 3,000 shows, and a stunning 2,400 celebrity interviews — would be her last.
“Although all good things must come to an end, you still have hope that truly great things never will,” says Warner Bros.’ Unscripted TV President Mike Darnell, who as recently as late April was still prodding DeGeneres to reconsider. He calls her eponymous series “an absolute phenomenon,” having established itself over nearly two decades on air “as the premiere destination for both superstars and incredible heartfelt human-interest stories.”
Indeed, after an uphill battle to get the show off the ground — “it was the hardest show we’ve ever had to launch in the history of our company,” a Warner Bros. exec previously told THR — it’s been widely praised for delivering a mid-day jolt of joy, to say nothing of ratings and revenue with its mix of dancing, games and giveaways (nearly $70 million in charitable donations and more than $300 million in audience giveaways). NBCUniversal Local president Valari Staab, whose stations air the show, describes Ellen as “an iconic American TV program” and its host as “a trailblazer and a one-of-a-kind talent.” DeGeneres, whose prolific output has reportedly earned her $84 million in annual income, per Forbes, was the recipient of the Kennedy Center’s Mark Twain Prize for American Humor in 2015 and the Presidential Medal of Freedom under Barack Obama in 2016.
But this past year has not been without controversy. On the heels of a series of personal swipes that DeGeneres says “destroyed” her, came a July BuzzFeed News expose detailing allegations of a toxic workplace. The latter, which DeGeneres says she learned about through the press, prompted an internal investigation and the dismissal of key executives. The host, who’s built her brand on the motto “Be Kind,” opened season 18 in September with a lengthy apology, telling viewers, “I learned that things happen here that never should have happened. I take that very seriously. And I want to say I am so sorry to the people who were affected.” While the mea culpa was widely viewed – Ellen’s highest rated premiere in years, per The New York Times – viewership quickly tumbled, even as Hollywood’s A-list remained loyal guests.
Still, Darnell is steadfast in his commitment. “Ellen was and is an indelible piece of the television landscape, and it will be sorely missed,” he tells THR. To his relief, DeGeneres will remain a part of the Warner Bros. fold, having built a sprawling portfolio of unscripted shows there in recent years, including Fox’s The Masked Dancer, NBC’s Ellen’s Game of Games and HBO Max’s Ellen’s Next Great Designer. The studio has a considerable stake in her Ellen Digital Ventures, too, which is responsible for more than 60 original series, including digital hit Momsplaining with Kristin Bell. Though DeGeneres, who’s also producing natural history specials and documentaries for Discovery and returned to stand-up with a celebrated Netflix special in 2018, is coy about her next chapter, she is hopeful a juicy acting role and more time for her conservation efforts are a part of it.
Read DeGeneres’ full interview with THR about the decision to wrap up a show that’s earned her 64 Daytime Emmys, the allegations that nearly sent her packing and the parts that she’ll miss most – and least – about her daily platform, on THR.com.
This story was originally published in The Hollywood Reporter.
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