Pat Sajak will spin ‘Wheel’ one final time, hosting show’s celebrity edition

Pat Sajak, who retired from “Wheel of Fortune” after a record 43-year run in June, isn’t quite done with TV or “Wheel” just yet. In unveiling its 2024 fall schedule, ABC said Wednesday that Sajak, 77, will be back for one “final spin” on the prime-time edition of “Celebrity Wheel of Fortune” starting Oct. 7.

Confused? You’re entitled to be. On that last minute of that last “Wheel” edition on June 7, an emotional Sajak spoke of the “incredible privilege to be invited into millions of homes night after night, year after year, decade after decade,” then thanked viewers for “allowing me into your lives.”

What he might have added — although, admittedly, this would have robbed the moment of drama — is that he would actually be back in their lives soon enough.

Launched Jan. 7, 2021, “Celebrity Wheel” was the rare prime-time spinoff of the vastly better-known early evening noncelebrity edition, also with Sajak as host and Vanna White as letter turner. (She’s expected to return in the fall too.) Entering its 5th season this fall, the prime-time edition has always aired on ABC — which never said Sajak was leaving, and indeed had already locked him in for that one “final spin” when the show was renewed in May.

The also-popular “Celebrity” prime-time version runs anywhere from 10 (the 4th season) to fifteen (the third season) episodes, which means Sajak really might be spinning for the last time in early January, although the far more likely bet is for ABC to hold the last episodes for the May 2025 sweeps.

Sajak will be replaced by Ryan Seacrest on the syndicated edition of “Wheel” this fall.

Asked for comment on the “surprise” return, Sajak’s longtime spokesman, Bob Burton, said via email, “sorry but Pat’s passing on this.”

Separately, ABC announced various other fall launch dates Wednesday. Those include: “Monday Night Football” (Sept. 9), which will begin with the Jets at San Francisco 49ers; “Dancing with the Stars” (Sept. 17); “The Golden Bachelorette” (Sept. 18); “Doctor Odyssey,”the new Joshua Jackson/Don Johnson drama from Ryan Murphy (Sept. 26); “Grey’s Anatomy” (also Sept. 26); and “Abbott Elementary” (Oct. 9).