NBC is set to premiere a primetime game show based on the popular word puzzle Wordle in 2027, with Savannah Guthrie as host [1, 2]. The project took around two and a half years to develop, with The New York Times insisting on acting as co-producer rather than simply licensing the Wordle brand [1, 2]. Jonathan Knight, head of games at The New York Times, described Wordle as “very approachable—anybody can do it,” noting the team faced questions during the TV show's development about whether it would be true to the original game and be high quality [1].
Wordle was created by Welsh software engineer Josh Wardle originally as a personal project. Its user base skyrocketed from just 90 players in November 2021 to over two million in a matter of weeks [1, 2]. The New York Times acquired Wordle in early 2022 as part of an expanding games portfolio that had already grown through investments starting in 2019 [1, 2]. The games division reported more than eight billion plays in a single year, primarily due to Wordle’s success [1, 2]. Unlike traditional game companies, the Times operates subscription models for its games [1, 2].
Knight joined the Times' games division in 2020, just before the rapid rise of Wordle [1, 2]. The Times had already launched other word puzzles like the Spelling Bee in 2018, which helped build a younger audience for their games [1, 2]. The Wordle game show will build on this growing popularity but aims to reach a wide TV audience with Guthrie as its host [1, 2].
After nearly three years of collaboration between NBC and the New York Times, the show will bring the digital hit to primetime TV in 2027 [1, 2].
