Conan O’Brien may have retired from the world of late-night TV hosting, but there is still so much for fans of the veteran comedian to look forward to. The 2025 recipient of the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor has more places to travel, more celebrities to interview on his hit podcast, and has also turned over a new leaf as a serious actor. Read more about all of that and more in the following guide to Conan O’Brien’s upcoming projects.
If I Had Legs I’d Kick You (2025)
Throughout his career, Conan O’Brien has made many fun, memorable cameos in movies and TV shows, such as his blink-and-you-miss-it How I Met Your Mother appearance, and even had a starring role in Peacock’s acclaimed comedy film, Please Don’t Destroy: The Treasure of Foggy Mountain, in 2023. However, his next acting role in the upcoming 2025 movie If I Had Legs I’d Kick You is unlike anything he has ever done before.
Two-time Emmy nominee Rose Byrne leads the upcoming A24 movie from writer and director Mary Bronstein about a therapist struggling to cope with her child’s mysterious illness and her husband’s sudden absence. Worsening the situation is her increasingly volatile relationship with her own therapist, played by O’Brien in a rare dramatic role that has earned raves since the bleak, but apparently darkly comedic, film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2025.
The Beast In Me (2025)
If I Had Legs I’d Kick You is not the only upcoming drama due in 2025 that Conan O’Brien is involved with. Set to become available with a Netflix subscription at some point on the 2025 TV premiere schedule is The Beast in Me, which O’Brien does not star in, but is executive producing for Conaco, alongside Academy Award winner Jodie Foster, according to Variety.
The upcoming Netflix TV show stars Emmy winner Claire Danes as an author grieving her son’s death when a famous real estate mogul, and one-time murder suspect (played by Matthew Rhys), moves in next door, compelling her to conduct her own investigation. The crime thriller also stars Brittany Snow, Natalie Morales, and former Breaking Bad cast member Jonathan Banks, to name a few.
The 98th Academy Awards (2026)
In March 2025, Conan O’Brien hosted the 97th Academy Awards to wonderful acclaim. While some might say Adam Sandler stole the show during his opening monologue, the ceremony as a whole was a winner, thanks to the comedian’s signature wit and willingness to go bold with the jokes (such as one referencing Kendrick Lamar's Super Bowl dig on Drake).
Many felt that O’Brien deserved to host the Oscars again, and it appears that the Academy agreed. Just days later, it was announced that he will return to emcee in 2026, which now has me wondering if he could become the latest Oscar host to be nominated in the same year if his performance in If I Had Legs I’d Kick You gets enough Academy members talking.
Toy Story 5 (June 19, 2026)
Conan O’Brien has lent his voice to a number of animated projects, including The Mitchells vs. the Machines as the Glaxxon 5000, the hit animated Batman movie, The LEGO Batman Movie, as The Riddler, and various TV series as himself. Soon, he will add a sequel to one of the best Pixar movies to that section of his resume.
O’Brien shared a video on Team Coco’s official Instagram account announcing that he is joining the cast of Toy Story 5, the new installment of the beloved animated franchise. After joking that he lobbied to replace Tom Hanks as Woody and Tim Allen as Buzz, he revealed he is voicing “the best character of them all,” Smartypants. Nothing else is known about the role, so we will just have to find out when the upcoming Pixar movie hits theaters in Summer 2026.
Conan O’Brien Must Go Season 3 (TBD)
When the news broke that O’Brien would be leaving his self-titled TBS talk show and retiring from late-night TV altogether, it came with the announcement that he would later return with a new show exclusively available with a Max subscription. It would be long before fans learned that it would be a travel program similar to his Conan Without Borders specials.
Titled Conan O’Brien Must Go, the travel docuseries is currently in its second season, which sees the comedian sharing a bed with Academy Award winner Javier Bardem in Spain, helping New Zealand reclaim the world record for largest haka (a native ceremonial dance) with Taika Waititi (who should do a movie with Conan someday), and other adventures. Soon after the Season 2 premiere, which saw O’Brien throw shade at Vin Diesel’s Fast and Furious movies, Variety reported that the show will be returning for a third season.
Gumshoe (TBD)
In addition to The Beast in Me, Conan O’Brien is also producing another scripted TV show in the crime genre, but of a more comedic variety, called Gumshoe. According to Variety, the series would star Reacher Season 3 actor Sonya Cassidy as a young cop investigating a murder who finds an unlikely partner in a teen true crime buff (played by Miles J. Harvey).
The Max original from Santa Clarita Diet writers Aaron Brownstein and Simon Ganz, and also starring Hamilton cast member Philippa Soo, was announced back in 2019, but little to no updates have emerged since. Whether or not Gumshoe has been cancelled or is still destined to see the light of a mystery I have yet to solve.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
In between all of Conan O’Brien’s movie roles, TV projects, and hosting gigs, fans can also hear him on his acclaimed podcast, Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend. Co-hosted by his longtime assistant Sona Movsesian and producer Matt Gourley since it launched in late 2018, the podcast sees the comedian engaging in more in-depth conversations with celebrity guests than the constrained environment of his days on NBC’s Late Night, his tragically brief Tonight Show stint, and his TBS run would allow.
Some special episodes of the podcast, called “Conan O’Brien Needs a Fan,” involve him speaking with admirers of his from around the world, some of whom he would later surprise with a visit for Conan O’Brien Must Go. As one of the top-rated comedy podcasts on the Apple Podcasts chart with more than 300 episodes so far, fans can likely expect to hear Conan O’Brien Needs a Fan for a long time.
With the variety of projects he has in store, I cannot think of a more exciting time to be a fan of Conan O’Brien than now.
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