Ellen DeGeneres Reveals Why She Is Ending Her Talk Show in 2022

After 18 years on the air, Ellen DeGeneres has decided to end “The Ellen DeGeneres Show.”

DeGeneres informed her staff of her decision on May 11.

The show will air its last episode in 2022, following Season 19.

As for why she made the move to end the beloved show, Ellen told The Hollywood Reporter, “When you’re a creative person, you constantly need to be challenged — and as great as this show is, and as fun as it is, it’s just not a challenge anymore.”

DeGeneres also opened up about when she has been thinking about wrapping things for several years. She said, “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 for maybe for one. 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.”

She emphasized, “That’s been the plan all along. And everybody kept saying, even when I signed, ‘You know, that’s going to be 19, don’t you want to just go to 20? It’s a good number.’ So is 19.”

What will Ellen miss most about the show? “Listen, this is my family. They’ve become my best friends. I come to work and I laugh every single day. We create stuff that’s sometimes just funny to us and it’s not exactly mass appeal, but I don’t care ’cause it’s stuff that’s dry and quiet and it’s my humor and, you know, I’ve tried to stay true to who I am and what my brand is.”

“This all became bigger than I ever could have dreamed of,” DeGeneres shared. “I worked from nothing to doing stand-up to having this career and I’m so proud of this show. It’s the best thing I’ve ever done in my life. And so I’ll miss everything but, in my gut, I know it’s time to do something different.”

In a statement to "Extra," Mike Darnell, President, Warner Bros. Unscripted Television, said, “Although all good things must come to an end, you still have hope that the truly great things never will. ‘The Ellen Show’ started as the little program that could and became an absolute phenomenon. Over the years, it established itself as the premiere destination for both superstars and incredible heartfelt human interest stories. The show and Ellen brought comedy, joy, happiness, comfort (and dancing!) to countless millions every day for 18 years. It was and is an indelible piece of the television landscape, and it will be sorely missed.”

Ellen admits that she’s doesn’t know what the future looks like after the show, but she’s planning on taking some time to “sit still.” She explained, “My agent is just like, ‘Why don’t you just sit still for a minute. You probably don’t even know how exhausted you are and what it’s going to be like to sit still.’ And I don’t know how long I’ll be able to do that because I’m like a Ferrari in neutral. I’m constantly needing to go. So, that’s my first challenge and then I’m going to figure it out.”

DeGeneres is open to returning to movies, though! She said, “If there were a great role, I’d be able to do that, which I’m not able to do now.”