CBS Eyes Game Show '@Midnight' to Replace 'The Late Late Show' After James Corden's Exit

Corden announced his exit from the late night show last April, with plans to officially leave the series at the end of the 2023 season.

The Late Late Show will be coming to an end with James Corden's exit at the end of the show's 2023 season. Next in line to replace the coveted time slot, however, is a reboot of the series @Midnight

A source tells ET, "CBS is eyeing @Midnight to replace The Late Late Show. They’re ready for something different. Hosted late night talk shows are expensive to produce." CBS, meanwhile, is not commenting on the potential new late-night lineup.

@Midnight ran 600 episodes on Comedy Central between 2013 and 2017. Its new iteration is said to have Stephen Colbert serving as executive producer, per a report from Deadline, alongside Funny or Die, the company behind the original series on Comedy Central.

The move gives The Late Show host another hour of late-night that he is involved in, in addition to also executive producing Comedy Central series Tooning Out The News and Hell of a Week with Charlamagne Tha God.

As for Corden, the news comes nine months after he announced his exit as host of the long-running late-night program. While his decision to leave the show came as a surprise to many, the choice became crystal clear while he was on set shooting his Prime Video drama Mammals last year.

"One day I was filming on a Sunday and I came downstairs, it was about 6 a.m. and my son, who was 10 at the time, was sat on the stairs and he said, ‘Are you working today?’ and I said, 'I am,' and he said, 'I thought, well it’s Sunday,' and I said, 'I know, buddy, but this schedule’s just all over the place. We just got to get it done because we only have a tiny amount of time before we have to go back and do the show,' and his face just kind of dropped," Corden recalled while on The Drew Barrymore Show last month. "I got in the car and I called my wife Jules and I said, 'I’ve realized, best case scenario, we have six more summers where Max even remotely wants to be around us and I cannot waste another one.'"

Corden explained that, when it came down to it, he realized, "If I really want to do this other work, that cannot be at the expense of our children, our family... that is really all it comes down to."

He spoke with ET's Nischelle Turner last May shortly after making the announcement, where he reflected on his exit.

"I just sort of felt like maybe we'd done enough? Maybe we'd done everything we wanted to do," he explained. "When I took the job -- firstly, I didn't think we'd be on the air, like, six months later. Then as soon as it seemed like we'd be on for a little while, I was very very determined that the show wouldn't overstay its welcome in any way and that we would always know when to leave. That we'd always know when to go out on top, because I think that's really important."

While he feels he's hit the mark with his timing, it didn't make the decision any less difficult.

"It was really hard, and, you know, there is family decisions and all the things like that. But I just couldn't shake that, maybe if I try and back myself somehow... There might be one more adventure, there might be one more journey that I might be capable of," Corden continued. "I will never find out if I stay in the safety of this, you know?"

Corden told ET that he's "really excited" by the future and that he also just feels lucky that he gets to go out on his own terms.

"Whoever gets to decide? Certainly not in this industry. Whoever gets to make their own decisions? Never," he shared. "And you'll never find out [what is waiting for you] unless you just take a run and jump."

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