Stephen Colbert and Taylor Swift Reunite on Late Night TV

Some celebrity pairings just work, and Stephen Colbert and Taylor Swift are one of them. Their playful history lit up the internet again this week with news of Swift’s return to The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.

On Monday, Dec. 8, the official Instagram account for The Late Show with Stephen Colbert revealed that Swift will be interviewed on the talk series on Wednesday, Dec. 10. The announcement came in the form of a fun video set to Swift’s hit song "Opalite." The clip showed several moments of Colbert dancing with excitement while dressed in a sparkling red, white and blue outfit.

The video ended with a familiar and funny throwback. A smiling Swift picked up a phone and said, "Hey, Stephen." The moment was taken from her 2021 appearance on the show, when Colbert jokingly tried to prove that her 2008 song "Hey Stephen" was written about him.

"'Hey Stephen''s got to be about me," he said at the time.

Swift quickly shut that idea down while keeping the joke alive. "No, Stephen. I first recorded that song in 2008. I think I was like 18," Swift said at the time, after he asked if the song was about him. Then she leaned into the humor even more by pulling out a mood board filled with photos of Colbert’s face.

She added another sarcastic twist: "Don't flatter yourself. 'Hey Stephen' is not about you, anymore than my album 1989 is about the year you spent waiting tables on the lunch shift at Scoozi, an Italian restaurant."

Colbert still wanted answers, so Swift offered one last playful surprise. "If you really want to know who it's about... I've never revealed this to anyone else but 'Hey Stephen' is about Stephen King," she added. At the end of the video, she even received a call from the famous author, known as the King of Horror, and answered it with the same cheerful, "Hey Stephen."

Swift’s appearance on Colbert’s show comes just two days before the premiere of her new docuseries The End of an Era. According to a press release, the series will detail "the development, impact, and inner-workings that created the phenomenon that was The Eras Tour." It will also offer "an intimate look at Taylor’s life as her tour made headlines and thrilled fans around the world."

The first two episodes will air on Dec. 12, with two new episodes released each week for a total of six.

On that same day, fans will also get Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour: The Final Show, a live recording of her final Eras Tour performance from Dec. 8, 2024, at BC Place Stadium in Vancouver, Canada. The film will feature the full set from The Tortured Poets Department and will air on Disney+.

With a late-night interview, a new docuseries, and a concert film all arriving at once, it is safe to say Swift’s schedule is just as full as ever. Her playful reunion with Colbert only adds to the excitement for fans waiting to see what she does next.