MSNBC will welcome back Rachel Maddow on Monday as the political commentator returns from hiatus to host her nightly program, The Rachel Maddow Show.
According to The Wrap, sources close to the situation claim that Maddow will return in a full-time capacity starting April 11. The long-time host started her hiatus on January 31, explaining at the time that she would be working on a film adaptation of her podcast Bag Man. “There may eventually be another hiatus again sometime in my future,” she told viewers. “But for now, we’re just taking it one step at a time.”
The movie, directed and co-written by Ben Stiller, is based on one of the most brazen political bribery scandals in American history, involving Richard Nixon’s vice president Spiro Agnew, who secretly ran a bribery and extortion ring while nobody was paying attention. Maddow covered the story in her 2018 podcast and companion book.
Maddow signed a multi-year agreement with NBCUniversal and MSNBC last year, but there are still questions about her future at the network. It was previously reported that Maddow was planning to reduce her nightly schedule. “I’m realizing now — 10, 11 years into this — that it’s fine to work long days,” she told The New York Times in 2019. “But it’s not good for you to work incessant long days, five days a week, 50 weeks a year for 10 years.”
The Emmy-winning broadcaster has hosted her nightly program since 2008 and has seen it grow to become one of the Top 5 programs of all MSNBC properties. In addition, her new deal will allow her to develop other projects for NBCUniversal, potentially including film and television series.
Maddow did return to her show twice during her hiatus, once on February 24 to cover the news of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and again on February 28, the day before President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address.
The Rachel Maddow Show, Weeknights, 9/8c, MSNBC
