Rachel Maddow taking hiatus from MSNBC show

NEW YORK — Rachel Maddow, MSNBC’s most popular personality, plans to tell her viewers Monday that she will take a hiatus of several weeks from her prime time show.

Maddow plans to use the time to work on a new podcast for NBC Universal, according to a person with knowledge of the plans who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss them.

Maddow‘s hiatus will stretch for several weeks starting this Friday, although she will appear on MSNBC’s coverage of major news events, like President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address, the person said.

Ali Velshi, her most frequent substitute, and other MSNBC personalities are expected to sub for her.

It could be a glimpse into MSNBC’s future. It has been widely reported that Maddow will step back from hosting her program every night as part of a new contract with the network, although neither she nor the network has publicly commented on that.

It was not immediately clear what her podcast project will be. She has made a popular podcast, “Bag Man,” about disgraced former Vice President Spiro Agnew.