Jeopardy! Host Alex Trebek Is Eager to Get Back to Filming New Episodes

The syndicated game show Jeopardy! banks a lot of shows. So despite shutting down production like so many other shows and films in March because of the coronavirus, they had plenty of episodes to get to the public. As of tomorrow, Friday, June 12, however, they will be totally out of new Jeopardy! episodes. No one is as eager to return to production as host Alex Trebek though, with a show spokesperson telling E! News: "Alex is looking forward to resuming production as soon as we are able to do so. He's told us he wants to be one of the first shows back in production."

Luckily for Alex and fans of Jeopardy! the state of California has lifted restrictions that will allow for filming to resume on television and feature film productions. Certain requirements must be met in order for filming to resume, but Los Angeles County has given the greenlight for productions to resume starting tomorrow. Considering the health status of Trebek, being immunocompromised due to his cancer diagnosis and treatments, additional safety measures will no doubt need to be made for Jeopardy! to resume filming.

In the meantime, Jeopardy! will start a showcase of some of its biggest winners and champions, offering the spotlight to many players such as James Holzhauer, Emma Boettcher, and Gilbert Collins. This will also lead to an encore presentation of the 2019 Tournament of Champions beginning on July 6 and running through July 17.

"For the first time, we have a chance to shine a light on each individual player before we revisit a big tournament," Jeopardy! executive producer Mike Richards said. "Some of these contestants played quite a while ago, so we hope that highlighting their biggest games will provide a deeper understanding of their specific strengths and how they earned their places in the Tournament of Champions."

In theory the series could have restarted production by then, but it's unclear when new episodes will be filmed and then broadcast.

Just two weeks before production on the series was stalled, Trebek offered an update on his health, saying: "There were moments of great pain, days when certain bodily functions no longer functioned and sudden, massive attacks of great depression that made me wonder if it really was worth fighting on. But I brushed that aside quickly because that would have been a massive betrayal - a betrayal of my wife and soulmate, Jean, who has given her all to help me survive. It would have been a betrayal of other cancer patients who have looked to me as an inspiration and a cheerleader of sorts, of the value of living and hope, of my faith in God and the millions of prayers that have been said on my behalf."

Look for the final episode of Jeopardy! for the foreseeable future to air tomorrow!

(Cover photo by Eric McCandless via Getty Images)