“GMA Weekend” is adding Rachel Scott and Rhiannon Ally as co-anchors under a new format that will split Saturdays and Sundays between two anchor teams.
Beginning Sept. 12, Scott will anchor Saturdays alongside Whit Johnson, while Ally will join Gio Benitez on Sundays starting Sept. 13, ABC News announced Wednesday. Leslie Lopez will serve as meteorologist across both editions.
The overhaul comes five months after Janai Norman’s abrupt departure from the weekend broadcast. ABC News declined to renew her contract after she had co-anchored the program since 2022.
Johnson has been part of “Good Morning America” on weekends since 2018 and will continue anchoring the Saturday edition of “World News Tonight,” a role he has held since 2021. Benitez joined the “GMA Weekend” desk in 2023 and will remain ABC News’ transportation correspondent.
Scott will keep her position as the network’s senior political correspondent while adding the Saturday assignment. She joined ABC News as a production associate in 2016, later working for “GMA Digital” before moving on air and rising through the network’s Washington bureau.
Ally joined ABC News in 2021 and most recently co-anchored the overnight programs “World News Now” and “Good Morning America First Look.” She has also filled in on “Good Morning America” and “GMA3.”
Lopez’s weekend role comes five months after she moved from Los Angeles’ KABC-TV to become an ABC News meteorologist based in New York. She had served as KABC’s weekday morning meteorologist since 2016. ABC’s announcement did not address the status of Somara Theodore, who had been the “GMA Weekend” meteorologist.
The new lineup will extend to streaming as well. Johnson, Scott, Benitez and Ally will rotate as anchors of “ABC News Live Weekend,” airing at 10 a.m. ET on the network’s 24/7 streaming channel. ABC News Live is available on Disney+, Hulu and the ABC News app.
The five journalists will also appear more frequently on weekday editions of “GMA,” according to ABC.
“Good Morning America” airs at 8 a.m. ET on Saturdays and Sundays.
