With longtime Wheel of Fortune host Pat Sajak set to step down after his final episode on Friday, his first post-Wheel gig has been revealed.
The 77-year-old Sajak announced in June 2023 that he was stepping down from the show after more than four decades, with Ryan Seacrest taking his place.
Now it’s been revealed that Sajak will head to Hawaii to reunite with his old friend Joe Moore, a broadcaster from KHON-TV in Hawaii, to star in an adaptation of the play Prescription: Murder, via Variety.
The play will run at Honolulu’s Hawaii Theatre, running from July 31, 2025 to August 10, 2025, with KHON-TV airing a commercial Friday announcing the news during Sajak’s final Wheel of Fortune episode.
Prescription: Murder was a 1962 play written by William Link and Richard Levinson, who, six years later in 1968, adapted it and turned it into the first pilot of what would become the TV series known as Colombo, which debuted on NBC in 1971.
With longtime Wheel of Fortune host Pat Sajak set to step down after his final episode on Friday, his first post-Wheel gig has been revealed
Now it’s been revealed that Sajak will head to Hawaii to reunite with his old friend Joe Moore, a broadcaster from KHON-TV in Hawaii, to star in an adaptation of the play Prescription: Murder, via Variety
In this regional theater version, Sajak plays Roy Flemming, played by Gene Barry in the original pilot, described as, ‘a brilliant psychiatrist, who hatches a plot with a perfect alibi to murder his neurotic and possessive wife.’
Moore will play Lt. Columbo, ‘he seemingly bumbling detective who engages the psychiatrist in a cat-and-mouse battle of wits right up to the play’s surprising climax.
The cast of the play also includes Moore’s son Bryce (also a KHON reporter) Therese Olival, Amy K. Sullivan and Aiko Chinen.
This will be the ninth play Sajak will starin alongside Moore, whose friendship dates back to 1968 when they served at the American Forces Vietnam Network in Saigon.
Their first play together was one Moore wrote, an original called Prophecy and Honor that debuted in 1993.
They also starred together in The Odd Couple (2001), The Honeymooners (2004), The Boys in Autumn (2010), Wrestling Ernest Hemingway (2014), Dial M for Murder (2018) and The Sunshine Boys (2023).
Most of their work together was at the Hawaii Theater, though they also performed as The Odd Couple at the Connecticut Repertory Theatre in Storrs, CT in 2012.
The Prescription: Murder production will serve as a fundraiser for the Hawaii Theatre, a non-profit organization.
In this regional theater version, Sajak plays Roy Flemming, played by Gene Barry in the original pilot, described as, ‘a brilliant psychiatrist, who hatches a plot with a perfect alibi to murder his neurotic and possessive wife’
Moore will play Lt. Columbo, ‘he seemingly bumbling detective who engages the psychiatrist in a cat-and-mouse battle of wits right up to the play’s surprising climax
This will be the ninth play Sajak will starin alongside Moore, whose friendship dates back to 1968 when they served at the American Forces Vietnam Network in Saigon
They also starred together in The Odd Couple (2001), The Honeymooners (2004), The Boys in Autumn (2010), Wrestling Ernest Hemingway (2014), Dial M for Murder (2018) and The Sunshine Boys (2023)
Tickets can be purchased at the Hawaii Theatre box office website for the play’s run next summer.
Earlier this week, Sajak sat down for a Good Morning America interview with his daughter Maggie and explained why now is the ‘right time’ to leave.
Maggie, 29, who serves as the show’s social media correspondent, asked: ‘What made you decide that this is the right time for you to leave the show?’
‘I have always said, you heard me say this dozens of times – I’d rather leave a couple years too early than too late,’ Pat replied.
‘Could I still do it? Yeah. I think I could for a while. [But]there’s also some other things in life we’d like to do.’
He continued: ‘I’m enjoying this last year. It’s been a great 40 years. I’m looking forward to whatever’s ahead.’
