James Corden Announces He Is Leaving The Late Late Show

James Corden, one of late-night TV’s biggest stars, is preparing to leave The Late Late Show.

Enomaomoruyi confirms that the longtime talk show host, 43, has extended his contract with CBS for one more year before leaving the show at the end of his extension in Spring 2023.

Corden said in a statement to Deadline, which broke the news first, that leaving the show after eight and a half years was a “really difficult decision.”

James Corden

“I’m so immensely proud of the show,” he said, referring to the late-night series as the “most joyous working environment”.

“I’m thrilled to be extending [for a year],” Corden continued. “I always thought I’d do it for five years and then leave and then I stayed on. I’ve really been thinking about it for a long time, thinking whether there might be one more adventure.”

“I’ll miss the adrenaline of thinking ‘Next week I’m going to jump out of a plane with Tom Cruise or in two weeks’ time, we’re going to drive around the White House in a car with Michelle Obama or sing Penny Lane with Paul McCartney driving down Penny Lane,” he added. “All of my greatest ambitions for what it what [the show] could be, it’s absolutely surpassed all of them. My intention is to try and go out in exactly the same way we came in, which is just going out with a bang.”

Corden took over as host of The Late Late Show in 2015, succeeding Craig Ferguson. Aside from the candid interviews with celebrity guests, the series became well-known for many of its viral segments, such as Carpool Karaoke, Spill Your Guts, and Crosswalk Musical.

In a statement issued on Thursday, CBS President and CEO George Cheeks praised Corden as a “creative genius” and recalled his time with the network.

“Seven years ago, James Corden came to the U.S. and took television by storm, with huge creative and comedic swings that resonated in a big way with viewers on-air and online,” Cheeks said. “From ‘Crosswalk the Musical’ to the legendary ‘Carpool Karaoke,’ and every unique comedy segment he introduced, James has truly reimagined many elements of the late-night format.”

“He has also been the consummate network showman, entertaining audiences from his nightly perch at Television City as well as the Tony and Grammy stage,” he continued. “In my two years at CBS, I’ve had the privilege to see James’ creative genius up close and experience his valuable partnership with CBS, both as a performer and a producer. We wish he could stay longer, but we are very proud he made CBS his American home and that this partnership will extend one more season on The Late Late Show.”

.@JKCorden Congratulations, James, on what will be eight incredible years at CBS. 12:30 won’t be the same without you. But looking forward to your exciting adventures as the new Doctor Who! pic.twitter.com/MGW0J9t0qe

— Stephen Colbert (@StephenAtHome) April 28, 2022

According to Deadline, Cheeks and his fellow CBS executives attempted to keep Corden on as a host for a longer period of time, offering him a three-year extension, a two-year extension, and a rolling one-year deal.

James Corden, who has appeared in films such as Cats and The Prom and has collaborated with Fulwell 73, the production company behind The Kardashians on Hulu, has stated that he has other career goals.

“There are still some other things that I feel I want to do,” he told Deadline. “I’d like to try and write. There are some [stories] I’d like to tell. I’d like to see if I’m capable of it. The fact that it’s terrifying is the reason to do it.”

Where Corden plans to achieve those career goals remains up in the air. He told Deadline that he and his family “genuinely don’t know” if they’ll leave California and return to the U.K.

“It’s something we think about and we talk about a lot but we haven’t really made a decision on that yet. That’s the life side of things which we’ll figure out,” he explained to the outlet. “I love living here. I love everything it’s given. My family and I have never taken this incredible adventure for granted. Every day I drive down Sunset to work and I just think I’m from High Wycombe.”

Following the news, Corden’s fellow late-night host Stephen Colbert tweeted a heartfelt farewell, joking about his next on-screen role.

He wrote: “Congratulations, James, on what will be eight incredible years at CBS. 12:30 won’t be the same without you. But looking forward to your exciting adventures as the new Doctor Who!”