A surprise quietly landed this week out of the FOX studio. Charissa Thompson, who once joked that she hoped to die on the network’s studio lot because of how much she loved the place, is leaving in a few weeks. The news came not through a press release, but through a personal Instagram post that felt exactly like her.

“Football , friends and the last few weeks at Fox 🫶🏽,” Thompson captioned.

“I leave this studio every week thinking how, how did I get so lucky to work here with these people every week. My face hurts when I leave from laughing so much. All these pictures truly make me smile because this is “us” and not just when the lights are on but all the time!” she added.

For fans who tune in every Sunday morning, it lands hard. Thompson has been a constant presence on Fox’s NFL Kickoff show, someone who felt as much a part of the routine as the games themselves. That’s what makes this surprising. Most of us assumed she’d be there for years. After all, she once joked about wanting to spend her entire career on the Fox Sports lot.

That joke wasn’t just talk. Thompson’s history with Fox Sports runs deep. She first walked through those doors at 22, starting in the HR department. Twenty years later, she was still there, still part of the weekly rhythm.

“I walked through the doors at Fox Sports when I was 23 and now 20 years later I still get to work here with people who are not just colleagues but family,” she wrote.

It’s been a strange year across football and sports media. Earlier this spring, 81-year-old Jimmy Johnson announced his retirement from television. That felt like the natural closing of a long chapter. This feels different. Thompson leaving FOX wasn’t something anyone penciled in.

Fans will feel it. That easy familiarity she brought every week doesn’t get replaced overnight. And while viewers will miss her, no one will feel the absence more than her longtime co-host, Erin Andrews.

Erin Andrews is already getting emotional

The regular season is over. The Super Bowl this year belongs to NBC, not FOX or Amazon, and with that, the football calendar quietly closes for Charissa Thompson and Erin Andrews. When Andrews was asked whether that reality hit her emotionally, she didn’t hesitate. She said yes. Then said it again. And again. At least five times.

The paths of Andrews and Thompson have always been intertwined. Both started out at Fox Sports, grew into national figures during their time at ESPN, and eventually found their way back to Fox in prominent roles. Along the way, they built something else together too, the Calm Down With Erin and Charissa podcast and YouTube show.

For Andrews, this is the familiar end-of-season goodbye. For Thompson, it’s bigger. This isn’t just the last game of the year. It’s the end of her time at Fox. It’s still surprising. Even if she was just offered a one-year extension, her leaving the show hasn’t really sunk in yet.

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Back in April on the podcast, Charissa Thompson sounded almost confused that anyone thought she was going anywhere.

“No, I’m not leaving Fox. I was never leaving Fox,” she told Andrews on their podcast. “I don’t know where this took on a life of its own, where I was hosting my family at the ranch for the past weekend. Four of my family members asked, ‘Well, the place looks great. How are you going to afford it now that you don’t have a job?’ I’m not leaving Fox. I was never leaving Fox.”

And yet, here we are. She’ll be missed.