Jimmy Kimmel, the host of the two most recent Academy Awards ceremonies and two others before them (2017 and 2018), and John Mulaney, the host of the most recent Academy Governors Awards ceremony, have withdrawn themselves from consideration for the job of emceeing the 97th Oscars on March 2, 2025. That, of course, begs the question: who will the Academy, its Oscars telecast producers (likely to be the same team that oversaw the well-received 2024 ceremony, minus Kimmel’s wife) and its broadcasting partner ABC land for the gig — if anyone? (They went without a host in 2019, 2020 and 2021.)
The Academy and ABC, being risk-averse, will often re-approach people who have hosted before, but most who hosted in recent years are never going to be invited back. Forget about James Franco and Anne Hathaway, who hosted together in 2011, and Neil Patrick Harris, who had the job in 2015 — they all bombed. Many found the 2013 host, Seth MacFarlane, too undignified (see: his “We Saw Your Boobs” song). And the show helmed by Regina Hall, Amy Schumer and Wanda Sykes was generally regarded as unspectacular.
Ellen DeGeneres was well received when she hosted in 2007 and 2014, but her public image has since taken a beating — even she refers to herself as having been “kicked out of show business.” Alec Baldwin, who co-hosted in 2010, became politically polarizing by mocking Donald Trump on Saturday Night Live, and then was caught up in the Rust tragedy. And Billy Crystal, who hosted nine times between 1990 and 2012, and Whoopi Goldberg, who hosted in 1999 and 2002, are now 76 and 68, respectively, and would not help the Academy and ABC in their efforts to attract younger viewers to the telecast.
Four past hosts, however, may remain viable.
At 78, comedy legend Steve Martin — who hosted in 2001, 2003 and, with Baldwin, 2010 — is now too old to be targeted by the Academy as a solo host. But if the Academy and ABC could convince his longtime comedy partner Martin Short, 74, and their 32-year-old Only Murders in the Building co-star Selena Gomez, a millennial and Gen-Z darling, to host together, that would be a huge coup. (Two things worth noting: ABC and Only Murders streamer Hulu share a parent company in Disney; and Gomez is a star of one of this year’s top Oscar contenders, Emilia Pérez.)
Jon Stewart, who hosted in 2006 and 2008, would certainly be a “get,” and he probably has more time on his hands than he has had at any other point in many years, given that he now only hosts The Daily Show one night a week. That said, he is politically outspoken, which may give the Academy and ABC pause as they make every effort to keep politics out of the Oscars ceremony, having seen undeniable evidence in tracking data that it impacts viewership.
Chris Rock, who hosted in 2005 and 2016, is as popular as ever, and it would be a big deal to get him to return to the Oscars for the first time since he was shockingly slapped by Will Smith while presenting an award in 2022. That said, when he previously hosted the show he offended a lot of people with a skit featuring Asian children, for which the Academy — but not Rock — ultimately felt compelled to apologize. I suspect that many, including Janet Yang, the Academy’s first president of Asian descent, might want to go in another direction.
Then, there’s Hugh Jackman, who hosted the tremendously acclaimed 2009 ceremony — he sang, he danced and he even got Beyoncé to perform with him — and who happens to be one of the two stars of the biggest blockbuster of this year, Deadpool & Wolverine. Heck, I could even see Wolverine (Jackman) enlisting Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds, Jackman’s close friend) to share the gig with him.
My sense is that the Academy does not feel that it needs a comedian to serve as host, just a familiar face — or two — who are well-liked, seen as cheerleaders of the industry and can help to move things along. That would seem to bode well for Jackman, who virtually everyone agrees is a great (some would say the greatest!) showman, as was also evident when he hosted the Tony Awards in 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2014.
Other options along those lines include Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, who has never shied away from the limelight; Glen Powell, the breakthrough star of the year and someone who would certainly draw young people to the telecast; John Legend, possibly with his wife Chrissy Teigen; Emily Blunt, possibly with her The Fall Guy co-star Ryan Gosling (they were great together as co-presenters at the ceremony earlier this year); and Tom Hanks, who has served on the Academy’s board of governors, remains very involved with its museum and would probably help it out if it really finds itself in a bind.
If the Academy and ABC do end up sticking with a comedian, they could go to former late night host and current podcaster and travel show host Conan O’Brien, who seems like a pretty unobjectionable choice; Maya Rudolph and Kristen Wiig, separate or together, who were a hit when they co-presented on the 2020 show; Chelsea Handler, who has honed her hosting skills while emceeing the lower-stakes Critics Choice Awards in 2023 and 2024; Ali Wong and/or Bill Hader, two halves of a very funny couple; or Tiffany Haddish, although she has become a bit controversial.
I would not expect ABC to sign off on anyone who competes in the late night arena with Kimmel (that rules out NBC’s Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers, CBS’s Stephen Colbert, and HBO’s John Oliver and Bill Maher) or really anyone from a rival network (including NBC’s Michael Che or Colin Jost, the latter of whom hosted the White House Correspondents Association dinner in April).
Trevor Noah is now out of the late night game and would probably do a wonderful job, but he has become the Grammys’ go-to guy (he’s anchored their last four telecasts), so it seems unlikely he’d be asked to also take on another of the EGOT-level award shows.
As much as fans might like to see what Ricky Gervais and Dave Chappelle would do as host, the Academy and ABC would almost certainly avoid them like the plague, given how anarchic and unpredictable they both are.
Finally, unless they’ve had a major change of heart, you can count out a handful of high-profile folks who might seem like good hosting candidates, but who have been asked — in several cases by me — and explicitly stated that, for one reason or another, they will never take the job: Justin Timberlake, Melissa McCarthy, Jerry Seinfeld, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, John Krasinski, Tina Fey and Amy Poehler.
A potential wild card: Kevin Hart, one of the most popular comedians and movie stars in the game today, who once said that it was his dream to host the Oscars and was all set to do so at the 2019 ceremony before withdrawing after old tweets of his sparked controversy. Hart, who has expressed regret about those tweets and remains a fan favorite, said in January that he would never host the Oscars or any awards show, describing them as “very cold” and not “comedy-friendly environments.” But in May, he hosted Netflix’s roast of Tom Brady, which is not a totally different sort of assignment, and it proved a massive hit on the service and went on to be nominated for an Emmy. So perhaps Hart — who another past Oscars host, David Letterman (1995), told me would be “a genius choice” — will reconsider!
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