As Lester Holt leaves ‘Nightly News,' Tom Llamas is ready for the challenge

Lester Holt is signing off of "NBC Nightly News" for the last time.

Holt, who has served as anchor and managing editor of the daily news program for the last decade, announced in February he would be stepping down from the toil of nightly news broadcasts this summer to pursue a more full-time role with NBC's magazine show "Dateline."

The 66-year-old journalist, who first joined the "Nightly News" team as a substitute anchor in 2003, has been the face of NBC's coverage of presidential debates, natural disasters and political interviews for decades. From his dedication to reporting from his bedroom during the COVID-19 pandemic to his occasional perfomances with his bass, Holt leaves a legacy of integrity, warmth and tenacity behind him.

Now, he's excited to dedicate more energy to exercising a different journalistic muscle, he said in an interview on "The Today Show" before his last broadcast Friday: long-form reporting.

"The timing just seemed right. I never wanted to be one of those people that was totally associated with just one thing," Holt said. "I always think that you have to have something else in your life."

Though he's served as principal anchor at "Dateline" since September 2011, Holt said he still feels there's so much left to learn as he takes on his next project.

"These are the best storytellers in the business. They've just refined this so well," he said. "I kind of feel like the new kid on campus with all my study notes."

And while he's ready for a slower pace that will allow him to spend more time with his family and his music, he'll miss the hustle-and-bustle of producing a daily newscast, he said.

"I'm gonna miss the crazy deadline pressure of day-to-day television ... I'm gonna miss that energy of the breaking news and running to the airport and things that make me crazy, too, but kind of energize you."

Following his last broadcast, a familiar face will step into Holt's weeknight host shoes: Tom Llamas.

Llamas — who is currently a senior national correspondent and anchor of “Top Story with Tom Llamas,” an evening newscast that streams on NBC News NOW — will take over on Monday, June 2, becoming the first Latino anchor on the weeknight edition of "NBC Nightly News." José Díaz-Balart, who hosts a show on MSNBC, anchors the program on Saturdays.

Llamas will also continue to host weeknight editions of "Top Story."

Anchoring “Nightly News” is a “profound honor and one that carries tremendous responsibility,” Llamas said in a statement when his new role was announced in March.

“I look forward to working with the world class journalists at ‘Nightly News’ and ‘Top Story’ to bring viewers the most important stories every night,” Llamas said in the statement.

Aside from his seven-year stint at ABC from 2014 to 2021, where he served as chief national affairs correspondent and weekend anchor for the network's “World News Tonight,” Llamas has spent much of his career in the NBC world. After beginning as an intern at a local Telemundo station, he joined NBC News as an overnight production assistant and campaign embed. He rejoined NBC News in 2021 as a senior national correspondent and soon after became the anchor of “Top Story," as well as a fill-in host for "Nightly News" and "Today."

Llamas, like Holt, has led coverage of several major breaking news events, reporting on pivotal events around the globe such as Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the assassination attempt on President Donald Trump in Pennsylvania, and the Tokyo and Paris Olympics.

Holt knows he is leaving the program in good hands, he said in a phone call to "Nightly News" staffers after the transition was announced. NBC News reported he asked staff to give Llamas "100% support as [they] make the transition.”