In this week’s The Last of Us, Ellie reaches the sixth stage of grief: annihilation.

Watching the teen go on after Joel’s horrific death in last week’s episode is a new and different sort of awful. Remember that terrible argument they had in Season 1, when she reminded him that anyone who’s ever loved her has left her? I thought about that scene a lot this week, as she cried in the closet and lobbied the townsfolk and just generally tried to keep going after such an egregious loss.

Episode 3 is very much a get-these-girls-on-the-road hour, setting up the rest of the season by putting Dina and Ellie on their path of vengeance and introducing us to two warring factions who are major forces in The Last of Us Part 2 video game. Read on for the highlights.

‘GIVE SARAH MY LOVE’ | Outside Jackson’s walls, the bodies of the infected horde are still smoldering. Inside, a woman is preparing Joel’s body for burial when Tommy enters the room and takes over. He lifts the sheet over the body to see Joel’s face — the angle doesn’t show us anything, for which I am grateful — and then gets to work cleaning his brother’s body with a rag. He pauses when he sees the broken watch. “Give Sarah my love,” Tommy whispers. As the camera pulls back, we see a lot more bodies laid out in the morgue.

At the overrun hospital, Ellie comes back to consciousness, remembers what happened and screams as she sobs. The staff sedates her.

AN UPDATE ON ELLIE | Three months later, Jackson is rebuilding. Ellie is physically healed, but the hospital won’t release her until she talks to Gail. “Yeah, I miss him. He meant a lot to me, yeah, so, upset and sad,” the teen says. It’s the truth, but she says it too quickly and easily, and Gail knows she’s just repeating what’s necessary in order to be discharged. Ellie says she didn’t talk to Joel when she saw him on the porch after their New Year’s fight, but she asserts that “your final moment with someone doesn’t define” your whole relationship. She also pretends not to know what Joel meant when Gail mentions his “I saved her” comment from therapy. “Man, I wish I could’ve let him off the hook for whatever it was he was talking about,” she says, kinda breezily. Gail gives her some major side-eye, but authorizes her release anyway.

At Joel and Ellie’s house, mourners have left notes and flowers at the fence. The house feels so empty as Ellie roams around it. She takes his gun and puts it in her waistband but is brought up short when she turns and sees his clothes hanging in his closet. She cries as she gently touches a sleeve, then cries harder as she buries her face in the cloth. Downstairs, Dina enters the house and calls for her. Ellie quickly stops her tears and dries her eyes.

Dina brought cookies “as a peace offering, because I’m about to make you angry.” Though she visited Ellie a bunch of times during her convalescence, she lied about not being able to identify Joel’s attackers. “I know most of their names, and I know where they’re from,” she admits. And Dina was right: Ellie IS mad. “You cost us time. You let them get away!” she says. But Dina reality-checks her. A lot of other people died, and no one — including Ellie — was in any kind of shape to form a posse. Second, because she knows where Abby & Co. are heading, “maybe let them get there” first? She’s near tears as she reminds Ellie, “I loved him, too, you know.” Ellie softens and takes a bite of a cookie, a sign of a truce.

TAKING IT TO TOMMY | OK, so here’s what Dina knows. In addition to Abby, there’s Manny, Owen, Nora and another woman (whom we know is Mel). One of them had a patch on their backpack that said WLF, which reminds Dina of a group Eugene once told her about: the Seattle-based Washington Liberation Front, a regional group fighting FEDRA. Dina hasn’t mentioned any of this to anyone else. “So,” she asks her friend, “now what?”

They share the intel with Tommy who — surprisingly to Ellie — hesitates. She argues that, if the situation were reversed, “Joel would be halfway to Seattle before the sun came up.” He agrees that that would be the case — if Tommy needed saving. “But when we lost people? No. It would just break him like it was his fault. I saw that time and time again.” He counsels Ellie to bring the matter to the town council, and he promises he’ll back her. “C’mere,” he says, pulling Ellie to him in a hug. She obliges him, but after a moment, puts her arm around him and squeezes back. MY HEART. Then he lets her know that they buried everyone 10 miles south out of town, “if you want to visit him.” She nods. “When we’re on our way to Seattle,” she says.

A NEW FACTION ENTERS | Somewhere else in the woods, a group of people are traveling on foot. All the men have shaved heads and all the women’s hair is braided; they all wear clothing with a rudimentary fish symbol drawn on it and carry hammers. Everyone, even the children, have scars from where the corners of their mouths have been slit up into their cheeks, Joker-style. One of the men walks alongside his young daughter, who wonders why “she” can’t just keep them safe. “The prophet? She’s been dead 10 years,” he says. He adds that the distance they’re putting between themselves and war is going to keep her safer. Then, someone at the head of the group whistles an alarm that has everyone diving into the brush to take cover. “Demons?” the little girl whispers as they hide. “Wolves,” her father replies. We’ll come back to them in a moment.

JACKSON DECIDES | On the day of the town meeting, the council — and the rest of Jackson — considers Ellie’s request to send a 16-person team to take down Abby. One woman argues that “we are too hurt, and it is too soon.” Another says that they need to have mercy to separate themselves from the raiders and murderers, a sentiment that angers Seth. “Grow up, you idiots!” he roars as Ellie looks on, surprised but pleased. “They’ll come back. They’ll come back because we didn’t make them pay. And when they come back, they’ll be laughing. And you’ll all deserve it, bunch of goddamned victims.”

Ellie is the last person to make her case. Per Jesse’s advice, she wrote her thoughts down ahead of time, so she reads them to the crowd. She swears her motive is not revenge, but justice. “I am asking you, please, do it for us,” she says, tears in her eyes. It’s moving, but not enough to sway the council, which votes 8 to 3 against going.

ROAD TRIP! |Does Ellie care? She does not! She’s preparing to head out on her own when Dina knocks on the garage door later that night. “I’m just going to bed,” Ellie calls out. “No, I don’t think that is where you’re going,” her friend wryly notes. Once Ellie lets her in, Dina pokes quick and efficient holes in her plan to get Abby: No clear route, no medical supplies, etc. Thankfully, Dina HAS made a sound plan and enlisted the help of someone who can get them supplies. That guy turns out to be Seth (!), who even trades his (better) gun for Ellie’s before seeing the ladies on their way.

At sunrise, Ellie stops at Joel’s grave and puts some coffee beans on it before heading on her way.

A LARGE PACK OF WOLVES | Dina and Ellie share a horse, Shimmer, as they continue toward Seattle. One night, they make camp under an outcropping just as rain starts to pour down. They’re about to go to sleep when Dina brings up their kiss at the dance. Ellie quickly says it didn’t mean anything, given how high Dina was at the time, but Dina wants her to rate it anyway: Ellie gives it a six out of 10. (Yeah suuuuure, Ellie.) We learn that Dina and Jesse have already gotten back together, and things are a little awkward as Dina turns off the light. But then she adds, “Ellie, I wasn’t that high,” before she falls asleep.

When they’re on a trail about 10 miles outside of Seattle, the pair come across a dead member of the group we saw earlier. He’s wearing the fish coat and has gunshots in his back. Dina investigates a little deeper into the trees, runs back and then throws up. A lot.

Ellie goes to see what made Dina so ill and finds the entire group we saw earlier, dead and rotting — even the kids. Ellie immediately suspects Abby and her crew are behind the violence.

As they approach the city, Dina and Ellie guess that there probably aren’t that many members of the WLF, or “wolves.” Otherwise, wouldn’t people be shooting at them as they get closer to Seattle? But they don’t know what we do: The wolves are a highly militarized group with lookouts, tanks and a large infantry that’s marching through the city. Ellie and Dina are outnumbered in the extreme.

Now it’s your turn. What did you think of the first Joel-less episode? Hit the comments with your thoughts!

The day that 9-1-1 fans hoped would never come is almost here: the funeral of fallen hero Bobby Nash. (It’s not too late to reveal that this has all been a fever dream, by the way! … No? OK, then.)

TVLine has a pair of exclusive photos from Thursday’s episode (ABC, 8/7c), in which the 118 says goodbye to its captain, following his death from Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever in the show’s two-part “Contagion” event.

Our photos offer a bittersweet first look at Athena as she grieves yet another lost love, and several members of the 118 serving as pallbearers for their captain, carrying him to his final resting place just as he carried them all for eight seasons.

“This was entirely a creative decision on my part, really,” showrunner Tim Minear told TVLine of Bobby’s untimely demise. “I’ve been thinking about it for a while. … Look, am I crawling out on a skinny branch? Maybe. On the other hand, if the stakes are never real, if there’s really no chance that any of this peril in which these characters find themselves amounts to anything, I think the show could die.”

Now, there is some good news in all of this: Minear confirmed to TVLine that Krause will still appear in new scenes — presumably to flashbacks of moments we never saw — over the final three episodes of the season, so at least we’ll get to spend some more time with our beloved Bobby.

Browse our exclusive first look at Bobby’s funeral below, then drop a comment with your thoughts on the situation. How are you preparing yourself for this emotional hour?

How does The Handmaid’s Tale finish June Osborne’s story? By starting it all over again.

After last week’s tumultuous episode, the Hulu drama spends its series finale letting us know that our favorite characters are going to be OK, albeit a little battered, as they head into the rest of their lives. A major figure from June’s past returns. An MIA handmaid’s fate is determined. A sequel series is set up. A mother is reunited with her child after years of suffering. And in the end, June becomes the author of her story.

Read on for the highlights of Episode 10, appropriately titled “The Handmaid’s Tale.” Then make sure to check out what Elisabeth Moss told me about directing the hour, including the ending that got “scrapped.”

BURN, BABY, BURN | As symbols of Gilead iconography (flags, signs, etc.) burn in a bonfire, June’s voiceover tells us what we’ve been waiting six seasons to hear: “Boston is free. The Gilead occupation is over. Here, at least, we fought, and we won. Boston is America again. Praise f—king be.”

She goes on to tell us that Gilead pulled out of the area after the Marines arrived. The plan is for Mayday and the military to liberate the rest of the Northeast and then move west. “Someday Colorado,” she says. “Then Hannah.”

We learn that all of the Boston commanders were dead before the fighting started in earnest (yes!), and that no one knows what’s become of Janine (noooooo!). When June sees Luke, he’s wired despite not sleeping. He tells her he’s heading with a crew to try to get the power grid working again, with the goal of having Logan Airport back online as soon as possible. That way, they can get Nichole and Holly there. New York is next on the liberation front, which June tries to be excited about. “Its not Colorado though, right?” she says, crying a little. He understands; he quietly reminds her that they’re taking down Gilead “one place at a time,” with the goal of reuniting with their daughter. Then he takes off for the power plant.

At United States headquarters, aka the old Boston Globe offices, Tuello has good news of a sort: The commander raising Hanah has been promoted and is moving to DC “with his wife and your daughter,” he says. Hannah will be 2,000 miles closer to June, which is “a kind of progress,” he adds. June absorbs this, then moves on to matters closer to hand: “What are you doing to find Janine?”

All Tuello knows is that the Eyes have her, though they released Aunt Lydia — and the older woman is working with the Americans. (June’s WTF face here? Perfection.) They talk about how neither of them feel like they can sleep. “My son lives in Hawaii with my ex-wife, and when I close my eyes, I see them, and then I get back to work,” he says, offering up more backstory in one sentence than we’ve had from him maybe… ever? “This is the best thing I can do for them: Bringing down Gilead so he doesn’t have to do it.” June nods, game respecting game. “May God speed the days so we can both get some rest,” she says.

Then June flashes back to an evening when Hannah was 5 or 6 and June temporarily lost her at a carnival. When a panicked June located her daughter, she hugged her as she cried. “Mommies always come back, remember?” June said through her tears. “Mommies always come back.”

Courtesy of Hulu

SERENA EXITS THE STORY | Serena is at the Globe, looking through donation piles for some new clothes for Noah, when she runs into June. She congratulates her on “your victory,” and June reminds her that it wouldn’t have happened without her help. “I guess I’ve helped Boston fall twice now,” Serena says, kinda proudly?, and good God Serena WHY ARE YOU SO WEIRD.

She offers condolences on Nick’s passing; June shrugs it off, saying that Nick “reaped what he sowed. He led a violent and dishonest life.” Still, Serena knows this is a bit of a bluff, so she adds that if Nick ever truly had a choice “he would’ve chosen you.” Then they talk about her prospects, which aren’t great — and are about to get worse!

Tuello comes into the room with a sense of urgency: Serena and Noah have to get on a bus leaving right then for a United Nations refugee camp. And just like that, it’s time for the former Mrs. Waterford to exit stage left.

June accompanies Serena and Noah down to their transport, and all of a sudden, Serena realizes that this may be the last time she sees June. “When I recall some of the things that were done to you, and the things that I did and that I forced you to do, I’m ashamed,” she says, starting to cry. “YOU SHOULD BE,” I yell at the TV a moment before June says it more calmly. But instead of getting defensive like she usually does, Serena takes it. “I’m sorry, and if words mean anything all, I am sorry,” she continues, crying harder. After a moment, June says she forgives her — words that Serena has been longing to hear for a while now. Nearly overcome, she thanks and blesses June. “Go in grace, Serena,” June says.

(What becomes of Serena, you wonder? By the end of the episode, she and Noah are temporarily housed at a shelter where they’re not really welcome; all their earthly belongings fit in a plastic shopping bag — and not even a nice one. Still, she holds him close and gives thanks for what she does have: “Do you know how much I prayed for you? And now you’re here, and you’re perfect, and you’re all I need. You’re all I ever wanted. I’m so blessed.” And, if the past is any indicator, she’ll be running the place in a few weeks’ time.)

After Serena’s bus leaves, Tuello (who saw the exchange) calls June’s forgiveness “generous.” “You have to start somewhere, right?” she muses. He’s also got news: Her old neighborhood has been reopened, and she can go back if she likes.

Courtesy of Hulu

LOOK WHO’S BACK! | Back in her old ‘hood, June pauses outside a shop window. A woman approaches and says, “This used to be an ice cream place. They had the most amazing salted caramel.” June recognizes the voice, looks over incredulously and… it’s Emily! “It’d be cool if they reopened, wouldn’t it?” the long-lost, bespectacled former handmaid adds. “Blessed be the fruit.” June hugs her, both of them teary over the reunion. (Side note: Anyone else remember Emily’s opening line verbatim from the series premiere?)

During a walk along the river, Emily catches June up. She was a martha in Bridgeport, and her commander “was a friend.” She is in touch with her wife, Sylvia, and their son, Oliver. “So you weren’t just gone?” June wonders. “Gone from their lives?” Emily asks. “Of course not. They’re the reason I’m fighting.”

The pair walk under a bunch of guardians who have been strung up, dead, on the wall. June confesses that she’s so angry and wants it all “back the way it was supposed to be,” but some things are just impossible. “We are both alive to see this, together,” Emily says, shrugging. “I’m thinking of adjusting my concept of the impossible.”

Courtesy of Hulu

Later, June dreams of what Boston would’ve been like if Gilead hadn’t happened. Her fantasy takes place at a karaoke bar, with all of her friends — Janine, Alma, Emily, Moira, Rita — happily belting Fleetwood Mac’s “Landslide” as they laugh and cavort. Next thing we know, in reality, June is bringing her handmaid’s robe to a bonfire in the street and throwing it on the flames. As she does so, a street light near her turns on: Looks like Luke and his team were successful.

Courtesy of Hulu

PRAISE BE! | That evening, a soldier shakes June awake and tells her that it’s urgent she come with him right now. She’s brought to Tuello, who is waiting near the Gilead border on a road that runs through the woods. Some Eyes bring Janine (!) to the middle of the road and throw her down; June runs to her, cradling and kissing her friend as they both weep. But wait, there’s more!

Naomi Lawrence and Charlotte (whom the Putnams called “Angela”) are there, too, along with Aunt Lydia. Naomi — in perhaps the gentlest exchange we’ve ever seen her have with the little girl she stole — tells Charlotte she’ll be safe, and “that’s the most important thing.” Then the girl is presented to her actual mother, Janine, who pulls her into an embrace. (Side note: While I’m happy that this reunion makes Charlotte happy, wouldn’t most kids her age be super traumatized to be taken away from the parents they’ve known?)

June watches it all unfold and has a lot of feelings while doing so. She thanks Naomi, then faces Lydia. “Take good care of our Janine, please, and Charlotte,” the older woman says. June thanks her, too. “Under His eye, dear,” Lydia says, trying to be her usual starchy self but failing because she’s close to crying. Then she nods and walks back into Gilead, ostensibly to get to Testaments-ing.

The Testaments: Everything We Know About The Handmaid’s Tale Sequel Series View List

JUNE MAKES A CHOICE | Another happy reunion happens when Holly and Nichole fly in from Alaska, but it’s not long before June kills the vibe by voicing to Nichole something she’s realized: “I think I have to keep all the little girls in Gilead safe, too, if I can. And in order to do that, I’m going to have to leave you again, OK?” Holly overhears her daughter, who’s fully sobbing, explaining to her toddler that “You don’t have to be near Mommy in order to feel her love. It’ll find you, no matter where you are.”

June later finds her own mother in the long hallway where all of the vigil photos are. Holly wants to know how long June will be gone, and June admits she doesn’t know. Holly’s face falls as she starts crying, because she wants to keep June safe just like June wants to keep Nichole and Hannah safe. “But the thing is, Mom, I’m not safe. Neither are you,” June says. “They are never going to stop coming for us. And even when we’re gone, they’re gonna come for our children and our grandchildren. Fighting might not get us everything, but we don’t have a choice. Because not fighting is what got us Gilead in the first place. And Gilead doesn’t need to be beaten, it needs to be broken.” Then she reminds Holly that she grew up watching Holly go to demonstrations and raise her voice against injustice, and then the matter is pretty much settled.

Still, June cries a little harder when she admits she thinks she’s biffing her job as a mom. But Holly bucks her up, saying that she’ll tell Nichole June’s story. “She should know that her mother is a warrior.” Then, Holly has an idea: “June, you should write a book.” June immediately says no, because there’s too much violence and loss in her story. “No, sweetheart. It’s about never giving up,” Holly counters. Write it for Hannah and Nichole, she adds: “Tell them who their mother was.” Which is great and all, but all of this talking about June in the past tense is making me incredibly sad/worried.

Courtesy of Hulu

THIS IS WHERE YOUR BOOK BEGINS | Speaking of sad: Luke and June meet up and start talking about how they’re so different now, after everything that’s happened. He’s planning on joining the Mayday group that’s mobilizing to the New York border in a few days, and she’s not. “Be careful, huh?” she says fondly. He agrees that he will be. Her plan is to work with Tuello, progressing state by state to demolish Gilead. “I’m going to go to her, Luke. I’m going to go to Hannah. What else is there?” He says he’ll meet her there, and they part on loving, if beleaguered, terms. Before Luke goes, he, too, encourages her to write about her “escape story.” Just like with Holly, she dismisses the idea. But he frames it as a way to memorialize everyone who loved her and whom she loved, including Nick, because “they’re all worth remembering.”

June has all of this in mind as she goes for a walk and winds up in front of the Waterfords’ house, which is badly damaged. The gates are open and the door is unlocked, so she goes inside and climbs the stairs to her old room, a corner of which is now completely gone. She sits on the windowsill where we first saw her as a handmaid, and she imagines Hannah is there with her. Then she pulls a digital recorder out of her pocket.

“Chair. Table. A lamp,” she narrates. “The window with white curtains. The glass is shatterproof, but it isn’t running away they’re afraid of.” Longtime fans of the show will recognize this as some of June’s voiceover from the very first episode.

Then, as she looks directly into the camera: “My name is Offred.”

What did you think of the series finale? Grade it, and The Handmaid’s Tale‘s final season, via the polls below, then hit the comments with all of your thoughts!

It’s been exactly one week since we lost 9-1-1‘s Captain Bobby Nash, and I don’t feel any better about it.

Killing off a beloved actor like Peter Krause was a big swing, a point of no return from which some shows never fully rebound. Can the ABC procedural avoid that same fate? I’m not so sure.

Reflecting on the monumental loss, I find myself haunted by those heartbreaking final moments between Bobby and Athena; by the sudden void, both in the cast and in the firehouse, that can never be filled; and by the palpable pain and fury still rippling through the fandom.

More than anything, however, I’m haunted by this excerpt from Bobby’s final speech: “I’m not choosing to leave you,” he said before succumbing to a deadly virus. “I chose to save my team because it was the right thing to do. It was never because I wanted to go. I don’t want to go. If I could choose, I would stay with you. Always.”

9-1-1 Says Goodbye to Bobby: See Exclusive Photos From His Emotional Funeral View List

Those were some of the last words Bobby spoke to his wife, but at the risk of appearing fully detached from reality, doesn’t it also feel like he was speaking to the viewers? Or even to the show itself?

When I learned of Bobby’s death in advance of this episode, I was sad, but not entirely shocked. Saying goodbye to a beloved character is always tough, but three-time Emmy nominee Krause has already embodied multiple beloved characters in his career — from Six Feet Under‘s Nate Fisher to Parenthood‘s Adam Braverman — and I just figured he was ready to find his next one. Eight seasons is a long time for anyone to play the same character, especially in today’s ever-changing TV landscape. So if Krause thought it was time to say goodbye, who was I to question his decision?

Then came my interview with 9-1-1 showrunner Tim Minear, which changed my perspective entirely. Killing off Bobby, Minear explained, was “entirely a creative decision” on his part. It was not, as I had previously assumed, a decision made because Krause chose to lay down his fireman’s helmet. “For the health of the show, and in order to give all of the characters more story, something like this needed to happen,” Minear told me.

Anticipating that most viewers would disagree with the necessity of Bobby’s death, I asked Minear to elaborate: “When I landed on this idea, the world suddenly felt more real to me,” he explained. “The characters felt more real to me. They felt like real people.”

I don’t know about all of you, but these characters have always felt pretty real to me. When Maddie attempted suicide amid her struggle with postpartum depression, that felt real. When Eddie was shot by a sniper, that felt real. When Hen nearly lost her son in a car accident this past Halloween, that felt real.

In spite of those clearly established stakes, 9-1-1 is also a comfort watch. Viewers are already invested in these characters’ lives and relationships because we care about them, not because we’re actually worried about them surviving a beenado or tsunami or any number of over-the-top emergencies thrown their way.

Even if I agreed that a death was needed to reinvigorate the show, why did Bobby have to be the sacrificial lamb? Without naming any names, there had to have been another expendable character in the 118’s orbit whose sudden loss could inspire personal growth.

9-1-1 returns Thursday, May 1 (ABC, 8/7c) with Bobby’s funeral, and the next few weeks will be crucial. I’m certain that fans will never be “OK” with Bobby’s death, but it’s still possible for 9-1-1 to soften the blow.

We know that Krause will make appearances throughout the season’s final three episodes, presumably in “flashbacks” to moments we never got to see, or perhaps in various characters’ imaginations. Beyond being heartbreaking, which feels like a given in this situation, these scenes have some heavy lifting to do — they need to both justify the character’s loss while also providing genuine comfort to devastated viewers.

And make no mistake, the viewers are devastated. Look no further than the top comment from ABC’s own tribute to Bobby on YouTube: “His death doesn’t just feel like the loss of a character,” user @craftylady11 wrote. “It feels like the loss of someone who reminded us how to keep going. 9-1-1 has been my comfort show for years, and Bobby was its soul. Knowing this was just a creative decision, not something the cast or network even wanted, makes it hit that much harder.”

This is among the more eloquent comments I’ve seen online — and there have been thousands across TVLine articles, official 9-1-1 social media channels, and anywhere else disappointed fans care to scream into the void — but it accurately conveys the general consensus among fans, a portion of whom are considering dropping the show from their viewing schedule altogether.

Personally, I’m hoping that 9-1-1 proves me wrong. I’m hoping that Bobby’s death propels these characters in dramatic, exciting new directions that keep things interesting for years to come. Because if there’s one thing Bobby would want — you know, besides an uncompromised breathing apparatus — it would be for us to keep hope alive.

Where do you stand on Bobby’s death? Do you agree that it will benefit the show in the long run, or do you believe it was a mistake to kill him off? If you’re in the latter category, what (if anything) would you need to see over the next few episodes to change your mind? Drop a comment with your thoughts on this polarizing development below.

She wants to breakaway.

Kelly Clarkson wants to quit her daytime talk show when her contract with NBC expires next year, leaving executives at the network scrambling to find ways to keep her on board, Page Six reports.

The news follows the “Since U Been Gone” singer-turned-chat show queen’s still-unexplained absence from “The Kelly Clarkson Show” for nearly two weeks last month. Reporting at the time suggested Clarkson left the airwaves because of a “personal matter.”

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Multiple sources have now told Page Six that the original “American Idol” winner, 42, wants to exit her eponymous talk show to spend more time with her daughter River Rose, 10, and son Remy, 8.

11 Kelly Clarkson wants to quit her daytime talk show when her contract with NBC expires next year, Page Six reports. Weiss Eubanks/NBCUniversal via Getty Images

11 The news follows the “Since U Been Gone” singer-turned-chat show queen’s absence from “The Kelly Clarkson Show” for nearly two weeks last month. Weiss Eubanks/NBCUniversal via Getty Images

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“Kelly’s No. 1 priority is her children, and they always will be,” one industry insider told Page Six. “The show is grueling. It’s a whole lot of work and I hear that Kelly would like to spend more time down South.”

A rep for Clarkson declined to comment. NBCU did not reply to The Post’s request for comment.

Clarkson recently got emotional speaking about her children on the 1,000th episode of her show, which also marked her return after her string of absences.

11 “Kelly’s No. 1 priority is her children, and they always will be,” one industry insider told Page Six. Weiss Eubanks/NBCUniversal via Getty Images

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11 “The show is grueling. It’s a whole lot of work and I hear that Kelly would like to spend more time down South,” the source added. Weiss Eubanks/NBCUniversal via Getty Images

“On a personal level I think the most meaningful change for me at least is my own family,” Clarkson said, before being shown a clips of her kids’ appearances on her program.

“Over the years I’ve had my kiddos onstage with me and they’ve always blown me away. So this is a look back on those memories,” she added, introducing the montage.

“I’ve actually never seen this,” she shared, fighting back tears. “So you’re crying. I’m not,” the singer then said with a laugh.

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11 Clarkson got emotional speaking about her children on the 1,000th episode of her show. Weiss Eubanks/NBCUniversal via Getty Images

11 Juan Smalls, Gee Smalls and Clarkson on “The Kelly Clarkson Show.” Weiss Eubanks/NBCUniversal via Getty Images

11 Clarkson on “The Kelly Clarkson Show.” Weiss Eubanks/NBCUniversal via Getty Images

The “Behind These Hazel Eyes” hitmaker also struck a personal chord in another segment in the milestone broadcast, confessing that she “lost, alone, a lot” over the course of the show’s nearly six year run

“We created a community and supported each other through a lot of ups and downs — a lot of ups and downs personally as well,” said Clarkson, who moved her show from LA to New York in 2023.

“For 1,000 episodes, we have laughed together, we have cried together with beautiful stories, sang together with some people, danced together, celebrated and competed together,” she said.

“I’ve lost, alone, a lot,” the Grammy-winner added, a slight warble in her voice, seemingly alluding to her 2020 divorce from her former manager Brandon Blackstock after seven years of marriage.

“It’s OK,” she then noted with a shrug.

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11 “We created a community and supported each other through a lot of ups and downs — a lot of ups and downs personally as well,” said Clarkson. Weiss Eubanks/NBCUniversal via Getty Images

11 Susan Kelechi Watson, Jessica Biel and Clarkson on “The Kelly Clarkson Show.” NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images

Clarkson has spoken about the toll the divorce took on her.

“Just to be brutally honest, I did not handle [the divorce] well,” the chart-topper admitted to Zane Lowe in a 2023 interview.

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“I don’t know how people get through anything like that because I’m not going to say I did it gracefully. Behind closed doors by myself, it was not,” she confessed.

Clarkson remembered “crying so hard” even before she and Blackstock officially separated that she “couldn’t even speak.”

11 Clarkson has spoken about the toll the divorce took on her. Weiss Eubanks/NBCUniversal via Getty Images

Per Page Six, the star received about $10 million each season as a judge on NBC’s “The Voice,” which she departed in 2021. She is believed to be paid even more for her daytime hosting gig in a deal negotiated by Blackstock.

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“The Kelly Clarkson Show” launched in 2019 and was renewed for Season 7 in December, keeping Clarkson in NBC’s stable until 2026. And despite the show’s consistently impressive ratings, a TV insider told Page Six that the program doesn’t yield a large profit and is expensive to produce.

“It’s a tough job and profit margins are low,” said the source.

Insiders also revealed that NBC wants Clarkson to stay on the network to host holiday specials like “Christmas in Rockefeller Center.”

11 “The Kelly Clarkson Show” launched in 2019 and was renewed for Season 7 in December. Weiss Eubanks/NBCUniversal via Getty Images

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Meanwhile, a report surfaced earlier this week claiming Clarkson would be replacing Hoda Kotb as Jenna Bush-Hager’s co-host on the 10 a.m. hour of the “Today” show — a report that didn’t “make any sense” to sources who spoke with Page Six.

“If she wants to spend more time with her kids, she certainly wouldn’t get that [at ‘Today’] and she’s never even guest co-hosted [‘Today With Jenna and Friends’],” one insider pointed out, while another stressed that the “Today” job is possibly more grueling than hosting “The Kelly Clarkson Show.”

Clarkson’s children were a motivating factor in her decision to move her show from LA to New York.

She recounted her conversation with NBC about the relocation during a 2023 interview with Nancy O’Dell for “TalkShopLive.”

“I was like, ‘Y’all, I love doing this show. I really do. I didn’t even know I would but I gotta make a change for me and my family,’” she recalled saying to network execs. “Any chance we could do this?

“I know we can’t do this from my ranch so any chance we could do it in New York [because] it’s at least closer to my family.’ That was really the main reason.”

The move provided a “fresh start” for the singer and her children, as she told USA Today later that year.

“I genuinely love it, and I love that my kids love it,” Clarkson said. “I was like, ‘I’m not living here unless it’s right by the park and really nice for the kids.’ ”