Lester Holt Announced Plans to Leave 'NBC Nightly News' After a Decade as an Anchor

On Feb. 24, 2025, longtime NBC Nightly News co-anchor Lester Holt shared the news that he would be stepping down from his role by the end of the summer. Those who have followed his career since he began at the network couldn't help but wonder who will replace Lester Holt on NBC Nightly News. He will remain at Dateline after his Nightly News role ends.

"A smile comes to my face when I think that with Nightly News, and Dateline, I have now anchored two of the most successful and iconic television news programs in broadcast history," Holt wrote to staffers, per NBC New York. "As a 20-year-old radio reporter on the police beat chasing breaking news around San Francisco, I could never have imagined my career path would unfold in the way it has. What an amazing ride."

When Lester made his announcement to the rest of the staff, he didn't mention anything about his official replacement for the anchor role. However, there are some ideas about who might replace Lester once he officially moves on from his longtime on-air role on NBC Nightly News. Journalist Dylan Byers shared his thoughts about it on X (formerly Twitter) following the announcement.

"Odds-on favorite to replace Lester Holt at NBC Nightly News is (and has long been) Tom Llamas, but no news on that front yet," he posted.

Other users echoed the sentiment with Tom Llamas as a potential replacement.

In 2021, Tom became a senior national correspondent at NBC News and was named as an anchor for NBC News Now. As far as some viewers are concerned, he is the most logical replacement for Lester.

Elsewhere on X, someone posted that TODAY show co-host Savannah Guthrie "would be an awesome replacement for Lester Holt." Savannah covered some of the election with Lester in 2024.

At this time, no official replacement as Lester's successor was named. His announcement came off the heels of MSNBC's plans to cancel Joy Reid's show The ReidOut after five years on-air.