Stephen Colbert has added a new wrinkle to the story behind CBS’ decision to end The Late Show: less than two years before canceling the franchise, he says the network was trying to lock him up for much longer.
In a new interview with The New York Times, Colbert said CBS pushed for a contract renewal of “as long as five years” during negotiations in 2023. Instead, Colbert ultimately opted for a three-year extension—one that will now conclude with The Late Show’s final episode on May 21.
The revelation adds a notable new layer to CBS’ claim that it pulled the plug on The Late Show strictly for financial reasons. While the economics of broadcast late night have undeniably worsened, Colbert suggested the network’s eagerness to keep him long-term as recently as 2023 raises obvious questions.
“Less than two years before they called to say it’s over, they were very eager for me to be signed for a long time,” Colbert told the Times. “So, something changed.”
Colbert didn’t explain why he preferred a shorter deal, but the timing is telling.
ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel—who shares manager James “Baby Doll” Dixon with Colbert—signed an extension with Disney in 2022 with an expiration date in May 2026. By declining CBS’ preferred five-year term and instead aligning his contract term with Kimmel’s, Colbert may have positioned himself—and his shared representation—for greater leverage during the next round of negotiations.
That strategy, of course, assumed there would be another round of negotiations.
Instead, CBS announced last year that it would end The Late Show entirely after Colbert’s current season, bringing the franchise launched by David Letterman in 1993 to a close.
Following news of Colbert’s cancellation, Kimmel and ABC announced a one-year contract renewal for Jimmy Kimmel Live.
Elsewhere in his interview with the Times, Colbert suggested he still has little idea what comes next once The Late Show wraps.
Beyond co-writing a script for a new The Lord of the Rings project for Warner Bros., Colbert said he’s avoided making post-Late Show plans while still hosting four nights a week.
“The show takes like 95 percent of my brain,” he said, adding that he likely won’t seriously consider new opportunities until he has “a little time to breathe.”
Colbert also reflected on how dramatically The Late Show evolved early in his run, saying that when he succeeded David Letterman in 2015, both he and CBS initially wanted the show to be less politically driven—and that network executives actively discouraged him from being too topical.
That changed after a rocky launch, when Colbert leaned into political comedy during the 2016 election cycle and saw both stronger reviews and higher ratings.
“I buried those damn guns,” Colbert said of moving away from his more overtly political comedic instincts—before ultimately deciding he needed to “go dig up the guns.”
And while Colbert acknowledged he’ll be relieved to no longer structure his life around the daily news cycle—and President Donald Trump—he made clear he has no regrets about where the show ultimately landed.
“I’m an American. I still care about my country,” he said. “I’m still going to care, but I can do that recreationally, you know, or privately.”
