Al Roker Explains the Significance of Savannah Guthrie’s Today Show Return Date

Savannah Guthrie is coming back home to the Today show on Monday, April 6, following the disappearance of her mother, Nancy Guthrie.

The Today co-anchor, 54, revealed in a new interview with her colleague Hoda Kotb that she will be heading back to the NBC morning program.

As her colleagues rejoiced in the idea of her return, weatherman Al Roker commented on the religious significance that the date happens to be the Monday after Easter Sunday.

“What’s wonderful, it’s almost symbolic after Easter and the resurrection, the rising, I think as a family we’ll hold hands and help her,” Roker reflected.

Craig Melvin, who co-anchors the news desk alongside Savannah, marveled at the connection, saying, “Yes, yes, I had no thought about that. Yes.”

Kotb, who has been stepping in in Savannah’s absence, noted, “Of course you did, Mr. Roker,” and Jenna Bush Hager, who attends the same church as Savannah added, “And [Savannah] had too, you know.”

During the second part of her emotional interview with Kotb, Savannah opened up about her decision to return to the morning show.

“It’s hard to imagine doing it because it’s such a place of joy and lightness, and I can’t come back and try to be something that I’m not,” she admitted. “But I can’t not come back because it’s my family. I think it’s part of my purpose right now. I want to smile. And when I do, it will be real. And my joy will be my protest. My joy will be my answer.”

Savannah also got candid about wrestling with her faith amid her family’s trying ordeal.

“One of my mom’s best friends told me that she had been going through a hard time and she said to my mom, ‘How have you kept your faith all these years, losing your husband,’ all the different things that my mom had been through,” Savannah recalled. ” ‘Nancy, how do you keep your faith?’ And my mom said to her, ‘Well, where else would I go?’ And I hold that with me. But faith is how I will stay connected to my mom. God is how I’m holding hands with my mom. And I won’t let sadness win for her.”

The first part of Savannah’s sit-down with Kotb — which came weeks after the disappearance of her mother, Nancy — aired on Thursday, March 26.

During the conversation, Savannah opened up about where she was when she found out her mom was missing and questioned whether her fame led to her mother being targeted.

“I think my brother, my siblings are so amazing, my brother, he spent his career in the military and worked in intelligence and is a fighter pilot and just brilliant and he saw very clearly right away what this was. And even on the phone when I called him, he knew. He said, ‘I think she’s been kidnapped for ransom.’ And I said, ‘What?!’” Savannah told Kotb.

She added of her conversation with her brother, Camron Guthrie: “It sounds so — how dumb could I be — but I said, ‘Do you think because of me?’ He said, ‘I’m sorry, sweetie, but yeah, maybe.'”

Related Stories

Hoda Kotb Says She ‘Marvels’ at Savannah Guthrie’s Ability to Look ‘Forward’ During First Interview After Mother Nancy’s Abduction

Savannah Guthrie Sobs in Interview Wondering If Her Fame Led to Her Mother’s Kidnapping: ‘If It Is Me, I’m So Sorry’

“I hope not,” Savannah said. “I mean, we still don’t know. Honestly, we don’t know anything. We don’t know anything. So I don’t know that it’s because she’s my mom and somebody thought, ‘Oh, that lady has money we could make a quick buck.’ That would make sense, but that’s probably… which is too much to bear. To think that I brought this to her bedside, that it’s because of me? Can I just say, I’m so sorry, Mommy. I’m sorry to my sister and my brother and my kids and my nephew and Tommy, my brother-in-law. I’m just so sorry. I’m so sorry. If it is me, I’m so sorry.”

The search for Nancy has is now in its eighth week. The 84-year-old was last seen Jan. 31, before she failed to show up for a virtual church service the following day. The Pima County Sheriff’s Department then launched an urgent search, later involving the FBI. No suspects have been named.