‘Live! With Kelly’ New Host Rumors: 7 Celebrities Who Could Replace Michael Strahan

“Live! With Kelly” will soon get a new co-host who will join Kelly Ripa and replace Michael Strahan. Ripa will make the big announcement on Wednesday, Sept. 7 and introduce the co-host who will join her five days a week at 9 a.m. ET on ABC 7.

While the search for Strahan’s replacement was ongoing, several celebrities served as guest hosts for the talk show, including NASCAR driver Jeff Gordon, Fred Savage, Rob Lowe, Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen, among others. Many have expressed their desire to join the talk show, while others, such as Cohen, said they couldn't take the job even if ABC would make an offer due to his many commitments.

While waiting for Ripa's announcement, check out our list of celebrities who could take over Strahan’s spot!

1. Neil Patrick Harris

The “How I Met Your Mother” alum has already proven that he’s got the chops to co-host a morning talk show. In fact, the producers of “Live!” have been considering him as Strahan's replacement for a while now. "Producers loved Neil Patrick Harris when they were looking before. He was a frontrunner, and he has less going on now than he did three years ago during the search that ended with Michael getting the gig,” a “Live!” insider told Entertainment Tonight back in April.

2. Morris Chestnut

Chestnut is latest celebrity to join Ripa on “Live!” as a guest host. He appeared on the Live! With Kelly” Season 5 premiere on Tuesday, Sept. 6. According to a poll conducted by The Wrap, Chestnut topped the list of celebrities voted by audiences to replace Strahan as permanent co-host.

3. Rob Lowe

Lowe previously dished that he had “the time of [his] life” when he appeared on “Live!” as Ripa’s onscreen partner. "I love her,” he told Entertainment Tonight of Ripa in May. “I love being able to talk to an audience every morning like that and just being fun, counter-punching, being silly, and talking about cool stuff.”

The “How To Be A Latin Lover” star also hinted that he may be open to accepting the hosting gig if it were offered to him since he’s in a good place in his personal life at the moment. “My kids are out of the house, they weren't then. Who knows... But listen, man, I don't want to go up against Anderson Cooper,” the 52-year-old actor joked. “I don't know if I'm going to go back as an actual guest host yet. You never know! You never know.”

4. Chris Harrison

Harrison currently hosts “The Bachelor,” but he’s also a favorite to take over Strahan’s vacated spot on “Live!”

5. Fred Savage

Savage, who has also joined Ripa as a co-host since Strahan’s exit, heightened speculation that he might be in talks to make his co-hosting gig permanent when he revealed that he had dinner with Art Moore, the executive producer of “Live!”

"No, this is just I'm coming in town with my family, they're meeting me here, we're taking vacation in New York, so the timing worked out. Whenever they call, I love to come do it. It's always a lot of fun,” he told ET in May of his meeting with Moore and his brief stint on the talk show. "I enjoy it so much. I love interacting with the audience. I love sitting beside Kelly—to work with someone who's just at the top of her field is a thrill, so it's all enjoyable."

6. Anderson Cooper

Cooper, who is close friends with Ripa, has also co-hosted “Live!” a few times. Though nothing has been decided, the “Anderson Cooper 360” host previously said that it would be a “dream” to co-host the morning talk show with Ripa.

“Look, I'm very happy at CNN. It would be a dream to work with Kelly, but nobody's offering anything,” he said during an appearance on Bravo's “Watch What Happens Live!” back in May (via ET). "Listen, I love Kelly and I think Kelly is the heart and soul of that show, and it's gonna go on and continue to be great.”

7. Andy Cohen

Though he’s already got a permanent hosting gig in “Watch What Happens Live!” on Bravo TV, Cohen is being rumored to have made the shortlist as Strahan’s replacement in “Live!” However, he previously opened up about the rumors in an “Ask Andy” segment, where he revealed that his schedule may not allow him to take on another job and that he has another person in mind for the position of Ripa’s co-host.

“No, you know that I have a job,” he told his assistant Daryn Carp in May (via Bravo TV). “I have 10 jobs. I would want Anderson [Cooper]. If he could figure out how to do it, yeah [he would do it].”