The Ellen DeGeneres Show has set a date for the series finale. The talk show is coming to an end on May 26 after 19 seasons, over 4,000 guests and 64 Daytime Emmy Awards. It's one of the biggest canceled TV shows or series ending in 2022.
The show also announced a lineup of special guests for the finale, including First Lady Michelle Obama, Jennifer Garner, Channing Tatum, Serena Williams, Zac Efron, Adam Levine, Behati Prinsloo, Gwen Stefani, David Letterman, Diane Keaton, Kim Kardashian and DeGeneres' wife Portia de Rossi.
DeGeneres posted the series finale date on social media, noting, "I'm going to miss this."
The show's cancellation came less than a year after it faced allegations of a toxic workplace and the exit of three executive producers. But DeGeneres told the Today Show that it didn't affect her decision.
"If it was why I was quitting, I would have not come back this year," she said. "I really did think about not coming back, because it was devastating. It started with attacks on me and attacking everything that I stand for and believe in and built my career around ... I am a kind person. I am a person who likes to make people happy.”
Instead, DeGeneres previously explained that she wanted a new challenge and that this decision had been in the works for years.
"I was going to stop after season 16. That was going to be my last season, and they wanted to sign for four more years and I said I'd sign maybe for one," she told The Hollywood Reporter.
"They were saying there was no way to sign for one. 'We can't do that with the affiliates and the stations need more of a commitment. So, we [settled] on three more years, and I knew that would be my last. That's been the plan all along."
After the finale, the Ellen DeGeneres Show will continue to air throughout the summer on affiliate stations with guest hosts, repeats and compilation shows. The show will also live on through Ellen Digital Ventures, which has 300 million social followers and produced 14 original web series last year.
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