According to a Variety story, Jimmy Kimmel is considering retiring from this late-night talk show when his contract runs out in 2019. Kimmel says he knows he’ll do his Jimmy Kimmel Live! show for at least three more years, but “it’s possible that will be it.” As for why he’s considering this, Kimmel notes that his wife is pregnant and that he’d like “a little more free time.”
Kimmel also says that whenever he does leave his current show, it won’t be for a different late-night thing. He wants to do something that “excites [him] creatively,” and that “doesn’t necessarily meaning something in show business.” In other words, a gritty reboot of The Man Show is probably out of the question. But Kimmel does add that he likes to draw and make sculptures, so maybe he’ll end up finding a new career as a brilliant artist of some sort.
The tone of the Variety story and Kimmel’s comments make it sound like his decision to leave has already been made, but it should still be noted that he hasn’t formally announced that he’s leaving the show in 2019, even though it seems like he will.