Stephen Colbert announces 'Late Show' will end on May 21

"The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" now has an end date — May 21, which, incidentally, also will mark the end of a franchise, end of an era, and end of an important part of CBS history.

Colbert himself revealed the finale date during a Tuesday appearance on NBC's "Late Night with Seth Meyers." The end, he mused, "feels real now," and added, "I'm not thrilled with it."

After he dropped that bit of news on Meyers, the host then asked the next most logical question: A dream guest?

"The pope — American pope," said Colbert, referring to Chicago native Pope Leo XIV. (Colbert, a practicing Catholic, began his career in Chicago.)

CBS announced the end of both the "Late Show" and the franchise itself last July — shocking Colbert, and the rest of the TV industry, if only for the fact that "Late Show" has been TV's top-rated late-night show over most of its 10-year run. There was, naturally, immediate speculation that CBS canceled the show to curry favor with the Trump administration — whose blessing was required to consummate a merger of parent company Paramount Global with Skydance Media.

Neither Colbert nor Meyers addressed that speculation, but Meyers did wonder about his next moves. A Netflix show? A move to politics? A political/entertainment-style show starring Colbert, Rachel Maddow, Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas), Tom Hanks and Simon Cowell ("The New A-Team")?

Colbert: No ... maybe ... who knows ....

The extended bit was largely (if not entirely) facetious, but the run-for-office question — specifically referring to a run for the White House — elicited this: "That’s something I have to discuss with my faith leader and my family," Colbert said. "And if there is some way for me to serve the American people in some way that could possibly be greater than a late-night television show, I would consider that."

In fact, that's essentially what Colbert — who had political spoof runs during Comedy Central's "The Colbert Report" for years — told the audience at The New York Society for Ethical Culture in December when he was the special guest for Slate's Political Gabfest's 20th anniversary show:

"I understand why you'd want me to," he told audience members who wondered the same thing. "... That is something I’m going to have to discuss, obviously, with my faith leader and my family, to see if once my service on the 'Late Show' ends in May, if I can be of some greater service to this nation that I love so much."

He added — just to be clear — "Absolutely, I should not run for president."

Indeed, there have been many "what next" rumors in recent months. (A podcast was one of the first.)

But on this particular question, perhaps it's best to refer to the only extended interview Colbert has given since news of cancellation last summer.

"People have asked me, 'Well, what do you think you’re going to do next?' " he told GQ last fall. "And the cleanest and really fullest answer I can give you, not that I don’t have thoughts, is ... I just want to land this plane gracefully in a way that I find satisfying, given how much effort we’ve put into it for the last 10 years."