The writers behind Stephen Colbert’s Late Show are in preparation mode for this year’s Emmy Awards, the award show’s host, Law & Order: SVU star Mariska Hargitay, revealed in an interview with Deadline on Tuesday.
“I’m working with an incredible team of writers—the writers from Colbert,” she told the site. “We’ve been meeting a lot and discussing a lot and pitching a lot of ideas. We’re pitching so many ideas.”
She added of their plans, “We’re at the beginning stages, and so we’re throwing out a lot of different ideas.”
The Late Show aired its last episode in May, following the host’s heated feud with Donald Trump. Colbert poked the bear once more in July, calling out the show’s parent company Paramount for “bribing” the president with its $16.5 million lawsuit settlement for his gripes about his political opponent’s 2024 interview.
Paramount, which was gearing up for its major with MAGA-friendly entertainment conglomerate Skydance, announced the end of The Late Show franchise just days later, though the company insists that the decision was made for “purely financial” reasons.
The show’s writers alleged that CBS left them hanging ahead of Emmy voting after the show ended, so they crafted their own video hyping the work and posted it on Instagram in June.
“CBS is not doing a For Your Consideration campaign for us, so, ‘for strictly financial reasons,’ the @colbertlateshow writers made our own #FYC campaign,” the caption of the post reads. The 80s-sitcom-inspired bit opens with the title card, ‘From the writers who brought you The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, this summer comes… ‘We’d Love an Emmy.’”
This year’s ceremony on September 14 marks the first hosting stint for Hargitay, who has 10 Emmy nominations and one win for playing Detective Olivia Benson on SVU.
The actress addressed that some fans find her an odd choice for the comedic role. “If you came to the set of SVU and you saw how we cope with things and the long hours and the subject matter, there’s a lot of joking because it’s a marathon,” she told Deadline.
“I think I’ve always used humor to cope with everything. And so it’s sort of more me than not, if you will. Olivia Benson is a character that I live in a box. That’s a character. But if you knew me, I live in the comedy world. It’s how I deal with things. So, this is maybe even more comfortable in a way,” she added.
Hargitay also teased one idea she’s been discussing with the Colbert writers. “I cannot tell you how many people—famous people—ask to be a dead body on the show. It’s a thing,” she said. “And it is so funny to me that that’s what they want out of all the things… just to be a dead body. It’s on their bucket list. That’s one of the ideas that we were talking about.”
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert is nominated for nine Emmys this year—the most of any previous year—including for Outstanding Variety Series, Writing for a Variety Series, and Directing for a Variety Series, as well as production design, technical direction and camerawork, lighting design, sound mixing, picture editing, and music direction.
