Behind The Scenes: Replacing Lester Holt

NBC News Evening Anchor Lester Holt announced on February 24, 2025, that he would step down from his role as anchor after a decade, with his departure set for early summer 2025. He chose to shift his focus to Dateline, where he has been a principal anchor for nearly 15 years, signaling a voluntary transition rather than a forced exit. However, the process to select his successor reportedly involved tension and jockeying among NBC News talent.

Before the official announcement of Holt’s replacement, highlighted a brewing "war in the newsroom" between two prominent NBC figures: Tom Llamas, a senior national correspondent who joined NBC from ABC News in 2021, and Hallie Jackson, the Senior Washington Correspondent. Insiders suggested that both were aggressively vying for the anchor chair, with Llamas seen as having positioned himself for the role since his return to NBC, while Jackson leveraged her extensive reporting credentials.

Sources indicated "real anxiety in the newsroom" over the succession, with some long-time staff doubting either candidate had the name recognition to seamlessly replace Holt, a trusted figure in broadcast journalism. This tension was compounded by broader instability at NBC, following Hoda Kotb’s earlier departure from Today, which added pressure to maintain stability in their flagship news program.

On March 5, 2025, NBC officially named Tom Llamas as Holt’s successor, confirming he would take over as anchor and managing editor of NBC Nightly News in the summer. The announcement quelled some of the speculation, but the lead-up suggested a calculated effort by network brass to weigh options amid internal lobbying. 

An insider quoted by the Daily Mail claimed that NBC leadership lacked full confidence in either Llamas or Jackson initially, hinting at behind-the-scenes deliberations over who could best uphold the program’s legacy, previously carried by icons like Tom Brokaw and Brian Williams. Llamas’s selection—he will also continue anchoring Top Story on NBC News NOW—may reflect a compromise, balancing his experience with a desire to appeal to a younger, streaming-savvy audience, especially as he becomes the youngest anchor of a major network evening news broadcast and the first Latino in that weekday role at NBC.

While no explicit evidence points to a clandestine "effort" beyond typical succession planning, the competitive atmosphere and reported newsroom friction suggest that replacing Holt was not a straightforward decision. Holt’s exit, framed as his own choice, likely prompted NBC to act decisively to avoid further uncertainty, but the process underscores the high stakes of maintaining credibility and viewership in a shifting media landscape.