Late night talk show hosts announce return after end of WGA strikes

On Wednesday morning, late night talk show hosts Jimmy Fallon (“The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon”), Seth Myers (“Late Night With Seth Myers”), Stephen Colbert (“The Late Show With Stephen Colbert”), and Jimmy Kimmel (“Jimmy Kimmel Live!”) announced their shows would be returning after almost five months due to the Writers Guild Association (WGA) strikes in Hollywood.

Meanwhile, other late-night hosts such as John Oliver (“Last Week Tonight with John Oliver”) and Bill Maher (“Real Time with Bill Maher”) also revealed their return, with Oliver’s show coming back on air this Sunday on HBO. Maher’s show will return to HBO starting Friday.

The announcements come after WGA writers voted to end the strikes early Wednesday morning, 148 days after starting negotiations, picketing, and stalling production. As a result of this agreement, the four hosts took to social media to tell fans about their long-awaited return to late-night television.

In the joint statement between Fallon, Myers, Colbert, Kimmel, and Oliver, also known as the “Strike Force Five” for the podcast they created during the strikes, the comedians said, “Flash! Their mission is complete, the founding members of Strike Force 5 will return to their network television shows this Monday 10/2, and one of them to premium cable on 10/1.”

The hosts also shared they will not be ending their podcast series immediately, with future episodes to come soon.

Since these announcements, the WGA agreed to a three-year agreement with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) after issues of higher wages, raises in the rates of health care and pension contributions, bonuses to residuals on viewership for streaming, and rules about artificial intelligence caused industry professionals to go on strike after the AMPTP refused initially to reach a compromise with the WGA in May.

While there’s a hopeful attitude between creatives about returning to television, the strikes have had devastating economic effects on employees and studios. Causing many employees to lose their jobs, production to shut down on upcoming movies and shows, there will be a lot of rebuilding in the next several months to restore Hollywood.