The Oscars podium has remained empty since Jimmy Kimmel left the stage in 2018, but for this year’s 94th annual Academy Awards, a host will emcee the evening once again.
“You heard it here first,” said Craig Erwich, president Hulu Originals & ABC Entertainment, at the virtual Television Critics Association press confab on Tuesday.
It remains to be seen who will get the tap, but the Academy has apparently reached out to some perspective hosts, according to The Hollywood Reporter — including Spider-Man series star Tom Holland.
Holland, an accomplished dancer who kicked off his career on stage in Billy Elliot, told the trade that he’d be up for it, which apparently prompted the chat with the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences (AMPAS).
The Oscars ran without a host for the first time in 2019, following a Twitter controversy that led Kevin Hart to ditch plans for what was for him once a dream gig.
Without a host, ratings actually jumped from the previous year; however, the most recent host-less telecast in 2021, which was delayed by the pandemic and held at Los Angeles’ Union Station instead of its traditional Dolby Theatre home, attracted a mere 10.4 million viewers — less than half the audience of its first host-free event.
The 94th Annual Academy Awards will air March 27 on ABC.
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