Even though he stepped away from the late night television circuit that made him a household name, David Letterman has continued his career-long habit of interviewing major stars, with Miley Cyrus next in line to swing by his Netflix series.
Letterman spent 33 years fronting shows in the United States between 1982 and 2015, hosting over 6,000 episodes in the process and usurping the legendary Johnny Carson as the longest-tenured late night host in the history of American television, but he wasn’t of a mind to retire altogether.
Instead, he was scooped up by Netflix as the frontman for My Next Guest Needs No Introduction with David Letterman, zeroing in to one guest per episode across its four seasons and 26 episodes so far. Along the way, he’s chatted with some of the most famous faces on the planet.
Barack Obama, George Clooney, Jay-Z, Lewis Hamilton, Shah Rukh Khan, Robert Downey Jr., Billie Eilish, Will Smith, and Volodymyr Zelenskyy are just some of the wide-ranging names from art, entertainment, sport and politics Letterman has had on the show, with Cyrus confirmed for the upcoming fifth season.
Cyrus has plenty to talk about, anyway, given how she evolved from Disney Channel star into a worldwide pop music superstar, with the last two decades of her life having played out almost entirely in the harsh and often unforgiving glare of the celebrity spotlight despite the fact the actor and singer is only 31 years old.
In the teaser released by Netflix, Cyrus even reveals that the breakthrough role of her career almost didn’t happen, with the planned first episode of Hannah Montana featuring another performer in the title role. When it didn’t play too well with test audiences, the original candidate was out, and the start of her rise up the industry ladder was on.
“They did shoot a pilot with another girl,” Cyrus admitted to Letterman. “They weren’t relating with her. I love them for that.” It might technically be the fifth season, but the next run of My Next Guest Needs No Introduction will only be comprised of two episodes, with the other featuring basketball legend and television personality Charles Barkley.
All of the previous seasons have run between four and six episodes, but it’s easy to imagine the writers’ strike played a part in curtailing Letterman’s plans. Either way, both Cyrus and Barkley’s interviews with the host will be available to stream on Netflix from June 12th.
