‘Today’ Show's Savannah Guthrie Surprises Matt Lauer for 20th Anniversary Celebration Amidst Talk of Megyn Kelly Move

Friends forever! On Friday, Savannah Guthrie returned from maternity leave (momentarily) to celebrate Matt Lauer‘s 20th anniversary on Today. Lauer exited from the NBC doors to a large crowd as well as a receiving line of both past and present Today co-hosts, including Guthrie. When he spotted her, he seemed genuinely surprised and asked, “What are you doing?” She replied that she “couldn’t miss it” while giving him a big hug.

A still stunned Lauer said she had texted him just 20 minutes earlier. “From the dressing room!” she revealed. “Oh, it’s so good to see you guys. Where are the babies? Did you bring the babies?” he asked. Guthrie said she didn’t because this was his moment (and she didn’t want little Charley stealing the spotlight).

“This is the first time we’ve seen each other since, like, the first day you had your baby!” Lauer revealed. Katie Couric chimed in to tell Guthrie she looked “fantastic,” which Guthrie basically ignored because she was too busy fan-girling over Lauer. “Matt, you know this, but I’ve looked up to you all my life — because you’re so old,” she joked. “I just wanted to say, we adore you.” She continued, “One of the things that is so wonderful about you is, from the second I walked in here, one of the first things I noticed was, ‘Matt not only knows everyone’s first name and last name — he knows the name of their dog. He knows how their mother is doing in Boca Raton.'”

Graciously, Lauer then had the cameras swing around so he could give credit to the crew, whom he called the “backbone” of the show. Guthrie chimed in again to say she loved him “so much.” When Lauer made a comment about how emotional she was being, she explained that she was “a breastfeeding mother.” At that point, Dylan Dreyer, who also had a baby recently, chimed in to joke that she left her child “home alone” to be there.

Guthrie’s surprise appearance was particularly interesting since it came in the midst of rumors that Megyn Kelly was in line to replace her on the morning show. Earlier in the week, it had been confirmed that the Fox News vet had been signed by NBC to host a new weekday one-hour daytime program, plus anchor a new Sunday evening newsmagazine. However, a source noted that Kelly’s real end game was landing Guthrie’s top spot. “There is a rumor on set that Megyn would eventually get the lead anchor role on Today, pushing Savannah out,” the insider explained. “The 9 a.m. hour of Today is likely not her goal. She is angling for something else.”

For the record, however, a high-level NBC source denied this claim. “We just signed Savannah to a massive deal that is longer than Megyn’s. A lead anchor role at Today isn’t part of the conversation for Megyn. The goal was simply to get someone of Megyn’s talent and caliber through the door at NBC. We have not made a decision on her daytime slot. It is being discussed,” the source revealed.

Further muddying the waters is speculation that NBC signed Kelly simply to keep her from inking a deal with rival network ABC for Good Morning America. “NBC execs are scrambling to find a spot for Megyn because [Andy] Lack desperately wanted to beat his rivals,” an insider commented. “This is a new morning-show war, and Megyn was the big prize.”

Now that NBC has won the prize, we’ll have to wait and see exactly where they put her.