Weeks after CBS announced it was pulling the plug on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, the comedian has landed a different kind of late-night gig: playing one on television.
Colbert will appear as a guest star in Season 3 of Elsbeth, the CBS spinoff of The Good Wife and The Good Fight. According to two people familiar with the production, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because casting details have not been formally announced, Colbert will portray a late-night host — a role that, until this summer, was not acting for him but profession.
CBS declined to comment.
The casting fulfills a running joke. Earlier this year, Wendell Pierce, who co-stars in Elsbeth as a New York Police Department captain, appeared on The Late Show. During the taping, Colbert confessed his wish to make a cameo as “a corpse behind a pile of lettuce boxes.” Pierce laughed and assured him, “I know a guy.”
Colbert won’t be a body in Season 3, but his appearance places him in the company of a growing roster of celebrity guest stars. In its first two seasons, Elsbeth has welcomed Jane Krakowski, Nathan Lane, Laurie Metcalf, and Matthew Broderick, among others. Carrie Preston, reprising her role as attorney Elsbeth Tascioni, anchors the series with a mix of eccentricity and procedural rigor.
The news arrives at a transitional moment for Colbert. In July, he told viewers that CBS would end The Late Show in May 2026, describing the decision as “the end of The Late Show at CBS.” Unlike previous transitions — Letterman to Colbert, for instance — there will be no successor. “This is all just going away,” Colbert said.
The network, in a statement, framed the move as “purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night.” But the timing raised eyebrows. Days earlier, Colbert had criticized Paramount, CBS’s parent company, over its $16 million settlement with former President Donald J. Trump. Paramount is also pursuing a merger with Skydance Media, a deal requiring regulatory approval.
Whether Colbert ultimately leaves late night for good remains unclear. For now, he will, at least on-screen, still be behind a desk — one built for a different show.