'Today' Show Surprise! Sheinelle Jones Replaces Hoda Kotb as Jenna Bush Hager's Permanent Co-Host Months After Husband's Death

Sheinelle Jones is closing out a difficult year on a positive note.

The beloved NBC star, who joined the Today show family in October 2014, was officially announced as Jenna Bush Hager's permanent co-host for the morning news program's 10 o'clock hour.

Bush Hager had been joined by a variety of guest co-hosts — including Jones — for almost a year since her former costar Hoda Kotb retired from Today in January.

The Today show revealed the news via Instagram on Tuesday, December 9, noting Jones, 47, would start to appear next to Bush Hager, 44, during the fourth hour of their daily program "in the new year."

"After nearly a year of rotating 60 contenders, Jenna Bush Hager has found her permanent co-host for the fourth hour of TODAY: Sheinelle Jones!" the upload's caption read. "On Jan. 12, Sheinelle will become the fourth hour’s first permanent co-host since Hoda Kotb departed the show."

The message confirmed Craig Melvin, Al Roker and Dylan Dreyer will remain co-hosts of Today's third hour.

Jones' new permanent gig won't be the first time she's sat alongside Bush Hager for the beloved morning broadcast, as she appeared as a guest-host of TODAY with Jenna & Friends in September.

"At the time, Sheinelle also compared her guest co-hosting stint to a date," the caption noted, recalling how Jones told Bush Hager: "Hopefully this will be a date where you walk away and go, 'OK, hopefully she calls me tomorrow!’"

In response, Bush Hager teased: "You're coming back."

Jones' exciting career update comes after she took a brief hiatus from Today in the months leading up to and after her husband Uche Ojeh's devastating death. Her longtime lover died from brain cancer at age 45 in May.

Savannah Guthrie announced the upsetting news during the Friday, May 23, broadcast of Today while holding back tears.

"With profound sadness we share this morning that Uche Ojeh, the husband of our dear friend and Today co-host Sheinelle Jones has passed away after a courageous battle with an aggressive form of brain cancer called glioblastoma," Guthrie expressed.

"There are no words for the pain that we feel for Sheinelle and their three young children," she added.

While sitting alongside Melvin, Roker, Dreyer, Bush Hager and Carson Daly, Guthrie continued: "Uche was an incredible person. We all loved him. ... We just want to say Sheinelle, Kayin, Uche and Clara and the Ojeh family: we are with you, we love you. You are our family and we're just sending all of our love to you right now."

Jones took some time off from work as she picked up the pieces after Ojeh's death. She eventually returned in September and sat down for an emotional interview with Guthrie for the first time since her husband's passing.

"It's a beautiful nightmare," she described the tragic months before, during and after Ojeh lost his life.