NBC's Tom Llamas Opens Up About His New Role as Anchor and Managing Editor of 'NBC Nightly News'

Published: June 18, 2025

Tom Llamas has officially taken over as anchor and managing editor of NBC Nightly News, and he's feeling the same "fire" for the job that he did when he was 15 during his first internship at Telemundo in Miami.

Llamas, 45, tells PEOPLE that it was an "immediate yes" when top NBC brass offered him the anchor role, making the show NBC Nightly News with Tom Llamas. "It's 100% yes," he continues. "And then it's a pause and just a realization of the honor that this job is, and the culmination of decades of hard work, and just the responsibility and knowing what comes with the job."

Llamas succeeds Lester Holt, who spent 10 years in the chair. As just the fourth anchor of the program in 40 years, it's a job offer that doesn't come along often. Ted Danson can relate to the feeling.

To celebrate his big promotion, Llamas took his family — including his wife, Jennifer, and their three children: daughters Malena and Juliette and son Tomas — to a steakhouse in New York City for a "great dinner."

Llamas says telling his parents, who are both Cuban immigrants, about the promotion was "very emotional for them." In a personal essay for NBC News in 2021, Llamas shared that his father grew up in Oriente province of Cuba while his mother grew up in the capital city of Havana. Their families fled Cuba within years of each other after Fidel Castro took over and settled in the United States, later meeting in high school.

Llamas says they "came here with nothing," and that "this great country gave them a second chance" as well as "a new home." "They taught me to work hard, and they taught me to love this country, and I do. This is the greatest country," he continues.

Llamas says his success is proof to him "that the American dream is still alive." As for what that phrase — "the American dream" — means to him personally, he offers up his own definition.

"It means that, in this country, if you work hard, you follow the rules, you stay a good person, and you honor the traditions you came up with, that you can do whatever you want," he begins. "I mean, at its barest form, in this country, you can start out with nothing and still achieve your dream, and I believe that."

That dream came true in the biggest way for him on June 2, when he hosted his first episode of Nightly News.

For Llamas, the news isn't just a job — it's a passion. But he also knows how to unwind. "Look, if I wasn't a news anchor, I still would be reading the news every day because I love the news," he raves. "When I'm off duty, I'm with the family. But I always have that phone on, so if news breaks, they can find me."

In his downtime, Llamas says he's in full dad mode: "I'm playing sports with the kids on the weekends, going to Little League games or gymnastics meets, things like that."

He also enjoys sharing his love of music with his kids.

Llamas says he and his wife also enjoy their TV time together — not watching the news, of course. He lists Your Friends & Neighbors, starring Jon Hamm, and Mike White's opus The White Lotus as some of their favorites. But he's not in a rush to live the White Lotus life on a tropical vacation like the characters on screen: "My god, that would be great," he says at first. "Actually, I don't know, man. People end up dying on that show."

Instead, he'll be spending Fourth of July stateside, honoring his family's traditions and celebrating his birthday. "My birthday's July 2, so sometimes we do a combination of my birthday and July Fourth, the birthday of this country," he shares. "So that's kind of cool."

Kicking his dad mode into high gear, Llamas reveals that one of his favorite things to wear for the holiday is an "American flag bathing suit."

He'll also be channeling his dad's "grill master" skills and attempting to recreate his famous baby back ribs to go alongside a "good key lime pie" like the good Florida-raised boy he is.

Patriotism runs deep in Llamas' family, and he says his son is following in those same footsteps.

For more from Llamas and tons of other summer fun around the country, click here or pick up this week's issue of PEOPLE, on stands Friday.