Whoopi Goldberg is about to spend less time at the Hot Topics table, but she is not leaving The View.
The longtime moderator will miss several episodes over the next two weeks while filming the upcoming Netflix comedy Women Like Us. Goldberg will continue appearing on Mondays while her movie schedule keeps her away from the show on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, according to Entertainment Weekly.
The temporary schedule change also gives The View an opportunity to bring back several familiar faces. Lisa Ling, Star Jones, Sherri Shepherd and Debbie Matenopoulos will rotate through Goldberg’s seat, with Joy Behar taking over moderator duties when Goldberg is absent.
Goldberg and executive producer Brian Teta explained the plan during the September 16th episode of The View: Behind the Table podcast. Because Women Like Us is filming in the area, Goldberg can move between the movie and the daytime show rather than disappear from The View completely.
Goldberg Will Still Be at the Table on Mondays
“We’re going to lose you for a couple of days because you’re going to be doing this movie,” Teta told Goldberg during the podcast. He then laid out the schedule more specifically. “You’re going to be gone over the next two weeks, but you’ll be here on Mondays,” he said.
Entertainment Weekly reported that the change begins the following week, after Goldberg completed the current week’s shows through Thursday. She typically does not appear on the Friday edition of The View, so the temporary adjustment mainly affects Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.
The arrangement is possible in part because the movie is filming nearby rather than requiring Goldberg to leave New York for an extended production. Teta said the returning former co-hosts will fill her seat on the days she is away.
Goldberg has repeatedly said that one reason The View works for her is the flexibility to continue acting. She temporarily left the show in November 2025 to film the Italian soap opera Un Posto Al Sole in Naples and returned to the Hot Topics table on December 1st.
Her New Movie Brings Together Whoopi Goldberg, Jenifer Lewis and Vanessa Williams
View this post on Instagram
Goldberg’s temporary absence is tied to Women Like Us, a new Netflix comedy about longtime friendship, grief and starting over later in life.
According to Netflix, the movie follows a recently widowed woman whose lifelong best friends and sister take her to the Hamptons on what would have been her 30th wedding anniversary. The weekend becomes a reckoning with grief, marriage and the relationships that have carried the women through their lives.
Goldberg stars alongside Jenifer Lewis, Vanessa Williams and Vivica A. Fox. Tasha Smith is directing from a screenplay by Ali Kinney, with additional writing from Tracy Oliver.
MACRO Film Studios and Higher Ground, the production company founded by Barack and Michelle Obama, are producing the film. Michelle Obama is also an executive producer.
Goldberg described the project to Teta as being about “change and getting older and having fun with your friends and people who get you.” “It’s about finding your people,” she added. “I’m excited to do it. It’ll be fun.”
The production has also required some unusual preparation. Goldberg said she has been learning how to perform yoga while standing on a paddleboard for one scene, even though being in the water is not something she particularly enjoys. “I’m determined to do it because there are those who didn’t think I would,” she said.
Four Former ‘View’ Co-Hosts Are Coming Back
Goldberg’s reduced schedule will turn the next two weeks into a small View reunion. Lisa Ling, Star Jones, Sherri Shepherd and Debbie Matenopoulos will each return to the Hot Topics table while Goldberg is filming. Teta said Joy Behar will move into the moderator position on the Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday episodes.
“Joy’s up for it,” he joked. “She’s always excited to moderate.” The four returning women represent several different eras of the show’s history. Jones and Matenopoulos were members of the original lineup when Barbara Walters launched The View in 1997. Jones remained through 2006, while Matenopoulos’ tenure ran from 1997 to 1999.
Ling joined in 1999 and remained until 2002. Shepherd became a co-host in 2007, the same year Goldberg joined the program, and stayed through 2014.
The change comes only weeks into The View‘s milestone 30th season, which premiered September 8th with Goldberg, Behar, Sunny Hostin, Sara Haines, Alyssa Farah Griffin and Ana Navarro returning to the table.