James Corden says quitting his US TV show is "absolutely terrifying".
The 44-year-old presenter has decided to walk away from his job hosting 'The Late Late Show' and move his family back to his native UK where he's planning to take some time off before looking for a role in theatre - and has admitted he feels huge amounts of anxiety as he prepares to finish his run at the end of April.
Speaking at a PaleyFest event in Los Angeles on Sunday (02.04.23), James added: "I haven’t felt this scared since I decided to take the show, to move here. I haven’t felt on such unstable ground... (But) I have to embrace that fear... .
"I’m just aware that what I’m trying to do isn’t the road that’s often traveled, to go from like National Theatre, writing a TV show on the BBC, Broadway, host of a late-night talk show, shooting stuff in the middle of that, stopping the late-night talk show and then going, ‘Oh, I’d like to do another play now.’
"It just isn’t the road that’s been travelled to my knowledge, so with that comes a huge amount of fear. It’s terrifying, it’s absolutely terrifying."
When asked about his plans for the rest of the year once he finishes up 'The Late Late Show', James said: "There’s loads of things I’d love to do, but they’re very reliant on people wanting me to do them... I think it’s going to be really important to take a breath and take a minute."
He added about his plans to return to his theatre roots: "It couldn’t feel more urgent within me to leave to do that [theatre]. I will be really, really upset with myself if in the next year or year and a half or so I don’t go do another play or revisit a play I’ve already done. I would give anything to go back and do a show again, I’d give absolutely anything."
James concluded by insisting he feels he is making the right decision to walk away from the show. He went on: "I’m so certain it’s the right thing to do. I’m so absolutely certain that we did everything we wanted to do and I think it’s really important to have things end."
James' final episode of 'The Late Late Show' is scheduled to air on America's CBS on April 27.
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