Rachel Maddow is taking a hiatus from her popular MSNBC nightly news program, “The Rachel Maddow Show” to work on other projects, including a film adaptation of her podcast, “Bag Man.”
Maddow made the announcement at the start of Monday’s broadcast. “I am super excited about it, and I am going to take a little bit of time off from this show to go help with the movie,” she told her audience, adding, “and also to work on some other things that I have cooking with NBC right now.”
These other projects include a new podcast which Maddow said she was “super excited to tell [her audience] about, when I have more to tell.”
“Bag Man,” the film adapted from Maddow’s seven-part podcast about the criminal operations of Richard Nixon’s Vice President Spiro Agnew, will be directed by Ben Stiller and produced by Lorne Michaels, Maddow told viewers.
She also said that she will remain on “The Rachel Maddow Show” throughout this week, and that she would return for breaking news coverage, including for Biden’s State of the Union address in March. Her hiatus is expected to last through April, although there may be more in the future.
“But for now,” she said, “we’re taking it one step at a time.”
Under a new contract signed last year, Maddow has been given more flexibility to step away from her show to work on other projects, the New York Times reports. Exactly what her schedule would look like when she returns, or how much additional time she may take off, remains a source of speculation, according to the Times.
“As you can tell, I’m nervous about all this,” Maddow told her viewers. “It’s a change in my life but it’s all for the good.”
She added, “Change is good! Change is absolutely terrifying! But in this case, it’s good.”
