Mary Carillo Steps In for Savannah Guthrie at Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony

NBC has confirmed that longtime Olympics broadcaster Mary Carillo will replace Savannah Guthrie as co-host of Friday’s Winter Olympics opening ceremony broadcast, after Guthrie withdrew from travel plans due to the ongoing search for her missing mother.

The network said Guthrie, who had been scheduled to present the ceremony alongside veteran sportscaster Terry Gannon, will remain in the United States as investigators continue efforts to locate her mother, Nancy Guthrie. Authorities believe Nancy Guthrie was taken from her Arizona home against her will, a development that has drawn significant national media attention.

The situation has cast a somber note over what is typically a flagship week for NBC. The Winter Olympics, like the Super Bowl, remains one of the few events capable of delivering large, unified broadcast audiences in an increasingly fragmented media landscape. NBC is also set to air this weekend’s Super Bowl, placing unusual operational and emotional pressure on the network at a time of intense viewership.

Mary Carillo brings decades of Olympic experience

Carillo, widely recognized for her distinctive voice and analytical storytelling during Olympic coverage, will now join Gannon in anchoring the opening ceremony telecast. These Games will mark her 17th Olympics, a tenure that spans more than three decades of international sports broadcasting.

NBC noted that Carillo spent two years living in Milan as a child, adding a personal connection to this year’s host country. She has previously hosted Olympic closing ceremonies in Salt Lake City in 2002, Beijing in 2008, and Rio de Janeiro in 2016, and has long been a familiar presence in feature storytelling segments that explore the culture and context surrounding the Games.

Her appointment provides continuity and experience at a moment when NBC is adjusting several key on-air roles.

Additional changes to NBC’s Olympics coverage team

NBC also confirmed that Craig Melvin, Guthrie’s co-host on the “Today” show, will not travel to Italy. Melvin had been scheduled to present late-night Olympic coverage early next week. He will be replaced in that role by NBC Sports host Ahmed Fareed.

The reshuffle underscores how personal circumstances can intersect with large-scale live broadcasting operations, particularly during events with global reach and complex logistical planning.

While NBC News has reported extensively on Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance, the story has drawn attention across major U.S. networks. ABC’s “World News Tonight” led with the development earlier this week, reflecting the broader public interest in the case and its connection to a prominent television figure.

A difficult backdrop to a major broadcast week

For NBC, the timing is notable. The network is entering one of its most consequential weeks of the year, carrying both the Winter Olympics and the Super Bowl within days of each other — two events that continue to anchor traditional broadcast viewership.

Opening ceremonies are typically positioned as both a cultural showcase and a tone-setter for the Games, blending sport, pageantry, and storytelling. Carillo’s experience in that format, particularly in weaving narrative context into live coverage, is likely to be central to NBC’s presentation on Friday night.

Behind the scenes, however, the focus remains divided between preparing for a global broadcast and supporting a colleague facing a deeply personal crisis.