When will 'Jeopardy!' Season 40 release? Game show likely to be delayed as Hollywood strikes intensify
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: 'Jeopardy!' has remained embroiled in uncertainties for the past few months, and it is hard to say when the game show will manage to move past these issues. And while it has been able to green-light part of its future plans, the details remain just as blurry as before.
With two strikes ongoing in Hollywood right now, the trajectory of major shows and films has completely diverted, bringing attention to the significance of writers and performers and their demands for basic labor rights. As the upcoming season of 'Jeopardy!' has already been announced, the anticipation is quite mixed on the part of the fans. On the other hand, producers are yet to share more details on the same.
When will 'Jeopardy!' Season 40 release?
If we go by the standard scheduling that the game show has followed for decades, a regular season is released right after a short hiatus following the previous regular season's run. It is usually scheduled to start sometime in September and have its final episodes in the month of July. Now that the latest Season 39, has finally come to an end after an especially rocky run, the next on the agenda is the reruns for the summer hiatus.
But Season 40 might not stick to the usual schedule because of the special circumstances of Hollywood at the moment. Reports say that it continues to depend on the strike how the show's future schedule would look like. "It depends," the report from USA Today says, "Some, like "Jeopardy!," employ WGA members, so new seasons this fall will either be delayed until the writers' strike is settled or use nonunion writers, even if Ken Jennings can work."
The SAG-AFTRA strike works differently than the WGA strike. The actors and performers, which include hosts of game shows as well, are not prohibited from providing their services on some specific daily shows according to their contracts while they are on the picket line. So, Jennings might decide to continue hosting the Alex Trebek stage. But it is possible that the show won't stick to its previously planned September release and end up with a delayed Season 40.
What are the future plans of 'Jeopardy!'?
'Jeopardy!' has been faced with multiple controversies in relation to the WGA strike, given the fact that they have announced to move forward with new schedules after the reruns for the summer are over. They have already started airing the reruns, starting from 'Jeopardy! Masters' and other tournaments besides the regular run will also be part of this schedule like 'Second Chance' and 'Tournament of Champions'.
View this post on Instagram
The regular schedule of the show includes these tournaments for the big champs as well. But with the recent announcement of contestants like Ray Lalonde and Ben Chan stepping down to support the writers, it was officially announced as not a part of 'Jeopardy!'s recent plans.