Conan O’Brien is to return as host of the Oscars ceremony in 2026 after a successful first stint earlier this month.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (Ampas), the body that organises the Oscars, announced in a statement they were “thrilled” that O’Brien was appearing again, along with TV show producers Jeff Ross and Mike Sweeney and executive producers Raj Kapoor and Katy Mullan.

Ampas also announced that the 2026 ceremony would take place on 15 March.

In their statement, Academy CEO Bill Kramer and Academy president Janet Yang described working with O’Brien in 2025 as “an honour” and that he “was the perfect host – skilfully guiding us through the evening with humour, warmth and reverence”.

O’Brien said: “The only reason I’m hosting the Oscars next year is that I want to hear Adrien Brody finish his speech” – referring jokingly to Brody’s longest-ever acceptance speech on winning the best actor award for The Brutalist.

Described by the Guardian as “refreshingly madcap” following four successive years hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, O’Brien received considerable acclaim for his debut performance as Oscars host. His most celebrated gags included cracks aimed at Wicked (“The perfect movie for anyone who’s ever finished watching The Wizard of Oz and thought, ‘Sure, but where did all the minor characters go to college?’”), Emilia Pérez star Karla Sofía Gascón (“Karla, if you are going to tweet about the Oscars tonight, my name is Jimmy Kimmel”) and Donald Trump (“Anora is having a good night … I guess Americans are excited to see somebody finally stand up to a powerful Russian”).

The audience ratings for the 2025 TV show were 1% higher than 2024, with final figures reported at 19.7m viewers, after mobile and PC figures were included. This follows initial reporting by ratings agency Nielsen that suggested the audience had dropped by 7% to 18m.