Norah O'Donnell will be returning to "CBS Morning News," seven years after last co-anchoring the news broadcast.
O'Donnell will join Gayle King and Nate Burleson when the program kicks off on the morning of Sept. 8, a spokesperson for CBS confirms to USA TODAY. She fills the third seat left vacant by Tony Dokoupil, who departed the morning show to anchor "CBS Evening News" in December 2025.
Jon Tower, the producer overseeing "CBS Mornings," told staffers of the news in a memo on Sept. 3, calling the shift a "homecoming" and celebrating the "memorable partnerships" between King and O'Donnell.
"They have a friendship and chemistry that extends beyond the studio," Tower wrote in a memo to staffers. "They know each other, respect each other, and −
maybe most importantly − genuinely enjoy each other. To put it simply, I can't think of a team I’d rather watch navigate the news than Gayle, Nate and Norah."
O'Donnell's return follows an effort by CBS executives to increase program ratings. A Nielsen report shows that viewership has dropped by 9 percent since the year-earlier period to about 1.7 million, according to Variety. This means the show trails behind competitors like "Today" and "Good Morning America," who bring in nearly 3 million viewers and have seen an increase in viewership.
O'Donnell co-hosted "CBS This Morning" with King and Charlie Rose from 2012 to 2019, followed by an anchor and managing editor role at "CBS Evening News." She made history as the third solo female anchor of a network evening newscast, following the footsteps of ABC's Diane Sawyer and CBS anchor Katie Couric. In January 2025, she left the evening broadcast, but contributes to "60 Minutes" as a correspondent.
Her departure marked a period where Paramount faced pressure to cut millions of dollars from its operating costs. Following the Trump administration regulator's approval of the Skydance Media and Paramount Global merger, a sale with an $8 billion price tag, the company began rounds of layoffs in October 2025.
While at CBS, O'Donnell has interviewed every living president, along with notable figures like Pope Francis, Oprah Winfrey, Dolly Parton, Benjamin Netanyahu and Hillary Clinton. In April 2026, she sat down with President Donald Trump for a "60 Minutes" interview, following the gunman threat at the White House Correspondents' Dinner.
Before CBS News, O'Donnell worked at NBC News, covering the pentagon, Congress and the White House, according to CBS.
O'Donnell briefly returned as a co-hoston the morning news show in February 2026 to promote her new book, "We The Women," a novel celebrating American heroines ahead of the nation's 250th birthday.
In July 2026, O'Donnell launched "Healthful," a weekly podcast that discusses reproductive health, menopause and cancer research with health professionals, scientists and innovators. During an August 2026 episode, as O'Donnell discussed menopause, she revealed that she took testosterone as part of a hormone regimen. Although the hormone arrives in a tube prescribed to men, she said she took a significantly smaller dose.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Norah O'Donnell returns to 'CBS Morning News' amid network shakeups
