The New York Times Games boss has promised the upcoming Wordle game show will stay true to the puzzle game and revealed it will be taped this summer. Jonathan Knight, Head of Games at The New York Times, gave his take on the upcoming Wordle show at Web Summit Vancouver.
“Savannah Guthrie has been by the office,” he said. “We’ve been developing the show and the format, making sure it’s true to Wordle, that the pacing is right and the different rounds… and we’re taping it in the summer.”
NBC officially greenlit Wordle this week, with Savannah Guthrie tapped to host the show, which is from Universal Television Alternative Studio (UTAS) in partnership with Jimmy Fallon’s Electric Hot Dog and The New York Times exec producing.
The New York Times acquired the word puzzle game in early 2022 and it is hugely popular. Players have to find a hidden five-letter word within six turns. Getting the right answer in a short number of goes is a source of pride for players. Exactly how it translates to TV remains to be seen.
Deadline was the first to reveal a Wordle show was in the works, and Knight said it has been years in the making. “We started talking about this three years ago, and had long thought that Wordle would make a great television show and just works well in other media. We looked for the right partner and NBC, The Today Show, Jimmy Fallon and his production company, Electric Hot Dog, they have been big fans of ours for a long time, so they made perfect sense.”
The Times has an array of games including the likes of Connections, although do not expect a game show any time soon. Knight offered a measured take when asked if other games were ripe for screen adaptations. “It’s not something we’re super focused on at the moment; it’s a big project bringing Wordle to TV, so we’re focused on that and excited to see how audiences respond to it.”
While that may come as a disappointment to fans of NYT games such as Connections, Knight did share what he considered some key aspects of the success of its games. “There’s one puzzle a day that we’re all doing, we’re all involved in solving that together. Once you solve it, you can very safely and comfortably put it down and come back the next day to see what the next day’s puzzle is. We work hard to respect users’ time.”
