Brian Williams, the veteran former anchor for NBC News and MSNBC, is joining Netflix where he will host a weekly podcast.
Netflix announced Thursday that “We’re Back! With Brian Williams” will debut later this year. The format will feature Williams in extended interviews with pop culture figures and newsmakers in a casual setting.
“With scientists predicting that every American will have a podcast by 2030, I thought it was time to get in the game,” Williams said in a statement.
Williams — long a stalwart of traditional TV news — will be the biggest name from that arena to join a major video streaming platform.
Williams has been off TV since he departed MSNBC (now MS NOW) in 2021. He was the anchor of the nightly program “The 11th Hour” and handled major breaking news coverage for the network.
Before joining MSNBC in 2015, Williams spent 10 years as anchor of “NBC Nightly News.” He left the broadcast after being suspended for making false statements about his experiences covering the Iraq war.
Williams tested the streaming waters when he anchored extended coverage of the presidential election in 2024 on Amazon Prime Video. While Amazon was said to be pleased with the program, which earned an Emmy, the company has made no further commitment to live news programming.
“We’re Back!” will likely emphasize the playful side of Williams, who once hosted “Saturday Night Live” during his NBC years. He occasionally told colleagues he harbored a desire to become a late night talk show host or a forum where he could work in a more conversational style.
“After 40 years in the news business when an in-depth interview gets four minutes of airtime at best, I just want to have interesting conversations with creative, funny, smart, talented and consequential people — like the shows we all grew up watching and listening to,” he said. “Netflix is the perfect home.”
Jonathan Wald, a veteran TV news executive who worked with Williams at NBC and MSNBC, will be the executive producer for “We’re Back!”
Netflix has moved aggressively into the podcast business. Sports columnist Bill Simmons, who helped popularize the format, recently moved his podcasts to the platform in January as part of a deal with Spotify. Currently Netflix is carrying 51 video podcasts.
