NBC announced a key hire for its upcoming coverage of the 2026 Winter Olympics from Milan-Cortina on Monday.
Legendary writer, producer, and actor Stanley Tucci will join NBC’s primetime coverage from Italy, serving up some of the lighter fare typically associated with the network’s primetime Olympics telecasts.
Cheers to Stanley Tucci joining NBC’s primetime coverage for the 2026 #WinterOlympics. 🥂 pic.twitter.com/I3kvtsIgie
— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) September 15, 2025
“There’ll be great food, great drink, and, of course, incredible competition,” Tucci said in the announcement before offering a cheers with his martini.
As far as celebrity hires go, Tucci is pretty well-qualified as an Italy correspondent. He hosted two seasons of the travel documentary Tucci: Searching for Italy, which won two consecutive Emmy Awards for Outstanding Hosted Nonfiction Series.
That type of experience should translate well to NBC’s primetime telecasts. An Olympics host city is often just as prominent a character in these nighttime broadcasts as the athletes competing in the games. And Italy, of course, has plenty of great food, drink, and scenery to highlight, which should make Tucci’s job pretty straightforward. Expect plenty of pre-produced features starring Tucci come February.
NBC has been keen to hire A-list celebrities to bolster its Olympic coverage in recent years. Snoop Dogg, for instance, featured heavily across the network’s Paris 2024 coverage, to rave reviews. While it’s fair to expect Tucci’s role will be quite different from Snoop Dogg (don’t expect Tucci to get in the booth with Andrés Cantor), they both serve to help bridge the gap between sports fans and viewers to watching the Olympics as a cultural touchpoint.
About Drew Lerner
Drew Lerner is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and an aspiring cable subscriber. He previously covered sports media for Sports Media Watch. Future beat writer for the Oasis reunion tour.