Conan To Return For 2026 Oscars Amid Rave Reviews

Former late-night host Conan O’Brien will return to host the 2026 Oscars amid rave reviews of his job helming this year’s 97th Academy Awards.

O’Brien received praise for his job hosting the 2025 Oscars where the telecast viewership jumped to its highest ratings in five years, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

“We are thrilled to bring back Conan, Raj, Katy, Jeff and Mike for the 98th Oscars,” Academy CEO Bill Kramer and outgoing president Janet Yang said in a statement from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences on Monday.

“This year, they produced a hugely entertaining and visually stunning show that celebrated our nominees and the global film community in the most beautiful and impactful way,” it added.

“Conan was the perfect host — skillfully guiding us through the evening with humor, warmth and reverence. It is an honor to be working with them again.”

O’Brien later released his own statement, cracking a joke about Adrien Brody, who set a record this year for the longest Oscars acceptance speech when he won Best Actor for “The Brutalist,” NPR noted.

“The only reason I’m hosting the Oscars next year is that I want to hear Adrien Brody finish his speech,” the former talk show host said.

Conan O’Brien will return to host the 2026 Oscars, after earning rave reviews and helping to net a five-year high in total Oscars viewership. https://t.co/5MPQK4XE0H

— VANITY FAIR (@VanityFair) March 17, 2025

It was initially reported that total viewership of the O’Brien hosted Academy Awards was down 7%, with approximately 18.1 million people tuning in to watch the 97th Academy Awards on ABC.

However, those numbers were later revised to show that a total of 19.7 million viewers watched the show, making it the most-watched primetime entertainment program of the 2024-2025 season, that wasn’t sports or news, the Academy noted. The Oscars also had the highest rating in the key demographic of adults, ages 18-49, scoring a 4.54 rating, per the Academy.

To put those numbers into context, in 2022, the Academy Awards had 16.6 million viewers, 18.8 million in 2023, and 19.5 million in 2024.

As host of the 2025 Oscars, O’Brien mainly steered away from politics and cracked jokes about things like “Emilia Pérez” star Karla Sofía Gascón, who became the first trans-identifying man in history to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress.

Pretending to be Gascon’s publicist, O’Brien held his hand up to his head like he was on the phone and screamed, “You tweeted what?!” Gascon recently made headlines due to unearthed tweets that went viral, which included critical statements on Muslims and George Floyd.

The 98th Oscars will take place on Sunday, March 15, 2026. It will be held at the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood and will be televised live once again on ABC, the Academy noted.

Related: Here Are All The Winners Of The 97th Oscars