Final Jeopardy! episode with Alex Trebek set to air on Christmas Day

If you are like us, there is a chance that you are still reeling from the very sad news that Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek has died at the age of 80. It is still hard to put his immeasurable impact into words. All of the tributes that have come out about him speak to his kindness, his resilience, and the profound impact he had on people all over the world. He made a trivia buff out of many, and his humility serves as an example to so many of us.

As many diehard Jeopardy! fans do know, the show tends to tape a good many episodes in advance of them airing — this means that there will still be chances to see the host moving forward on television. This is the work that Trebek cared about so deeply, and that is why he continued on with his duties even while battling pancreatic cancer.

Today, Sony Pictures Television confirmed that new episodes featuring Trebek are going to air through Christmas Day, with December 25 serving as the final farewell. This means there are multiple weeks of new episodes still to go; we imagine that there will be tributes to Alex interspersed throughout, but the format of Jeopardy! itself remains the same. This is a quiz show focused on its famous answers, and we don’t think that Alex would want a significant deviation from that. He had even said in the past that on his final episode, he would command nothing more than thirty seconds to say farewell to viewers at home.

Sony has not commented on the future of Jeopardy! without Trebek, but there will be plenty of time to deal with that. For now, let’s spend our time focusing on the man we just lost, someone who defined the past several decades of game shows. Trebek served as an inspiration to so many people, and we will likely hear more about his impacts in the months to come.

As we said earlier today, our thoughts and condolences go out to Trebek’s family during what has to be an incredibly difficult time. (Photo: Jeopardy.)