Norah O’Donnell has revealed that she is returning to CBS Mornings – seven years after she departed the show, now hosted by Gayle King and Nate Burleson, and almost two years after she stepped down from CBS Evenings.
Norah will join Gayle and Nate from Tuesday September 8, 2026. She previously anchored with Gayle before her departure in 2019, and senior producer Jon Tower called their partnership “one of the most memorable partnerships in the history of the morning news” in their first run as co-hosts.
© Getty Images“They have a friendship and chemistry that extends beyond the studio,” he said. “They know each other, respect each other, and — maybe most importantly — genuinely enjoy each other. To put it simply, I can’t think of a team I’d rather watch navigate the news than Gayle, Nate and Norah.”
The decision to bring back a veteran anchor comes after months of turmoil and change at the network, which has been undergoing strategic restructuring.
© WireImageShow bosses are hoping the friendship and chemistry between Gayle and Norah will help boost falling ratings.”We believe there is a lot of life left in morning television, and therefore we are putting our best people on the field,” Tom Cibrowski, the president of CBS News, told press.
ABC’s Good Morning America continues to lead the morning landscape with 2.743 million weekly viewers, and NBC’s Today Show remains a close competitor with similar reach. However, CBS Mornings trails significantly, averaging 1.592 million viewers.
© NBCUniversal via Getty ImagesNorah’s credentials also make her a good fit to try to turn the tide for the morning show.
The 52-year-old has interviewed every living President of the United States, as well as the late former President Jimmy Carter, and in 2024, she became the first American journalist to interview a Pope, speaking to Pope Francis in Rome.
In 2023, she and the CBS Evening News team were awarded an Edward R. Murrow Award for the broadcast’s report on the overturning of Roe v. Wade.
© CBS via Getty ImagesNorah launched Healthful, a podcast that focuses on the health of women in their Second Act – a demographic the show will also be hoping to capture – six weeks before the news was announced.
The podcast also includes personal content and features interviews with leading women’s health experts, plus some of the tips that she has been incorporating in her own life in her 50s, such as strength and mobility training two to three times a week, plus weekend tennis matches and 10-20 minute walks after dinner each night to remain healthy.
She has also kept a strict bedtime routine, trying to be in bed by 9pm so she can be up by 4.30 am to catch up on the news and ready herself for a day of work, a routine that will help her with the new job and its early call times.
