"The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" to end in May 2026
"The Late Show" franchise will "end its historic run in May 2026 at the end of the broadcast season," CBS said.
www.cbsnews.comShort answer: Stephen Colbert’s last episode of The Late Show aired on May 21, 2026, according to multiple outlets reporting CBS’s finale date.
Details
- Final broadcast date: May 21, 2026, at 11:35 PM ET on CBS. This was announced by CBS and widely covered as the series finale of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert [sources: Hollywood Life reporting the finale date; Entertainment Weekly confirming the final episode date; CBS’s own statements about ending the franchise in May 2026] [sources cited inline: Hollywood Life, Entertainment Weekly, CBS News].
- Context: CBS announced in 2025 that The Late Show would end during the 2025–2026 broadcast season, with the May 2026 finale marking the end of the franchise on CBS [CBS News].
- Notable finales: The finale featured appearances by guests and tributes from peers in late-night television, marking Colbert’s departure after a decade as host [Hollywood Life coverage; Entertainment Weekly coverage].
If you’d like, I can pull more contemporaneous reactions, viewership figures, or a short recap of the finale’s key moments.