Keith Olbermann Co-Hosting Two Upcoming Episodes of PTI With Tony Kornheiser

Is Keith Olbermann on his way back to ESPN? Not quite, but his presence on the network is growing.

Is Keith Olbermann returning to ESPN?

It might be premature to say Olbermann is coming back for a third stint at the Worldwide Leader. But he's taking baby steps back to the network where he rose to prominence as a SportsCenter anchor. 

Olbermann will co-host Pardon The Interruption with Tony Kornheiser on Thursday and Friday of this week, according to Andrew Marchand of The New York Post. Olbermann confirmed the appearances to The Post. 

The colorful broadcaster grew popular in the 1990s when he hosted a late-night edition of SportsCenter with Dan Patrick. After parting ways ESPN, he landed in cable news, where his primetime slot on MSNBC burnished his reputation as a liberal firebrand. Olbermann also joined NBC's Football Night in America studio show before moving back to ESPN in 2013, hosting the talk show program Olbermann until 2015, when he left the network again. 

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Olbermann spent much of the last year hosting GQ's web series The Resistance, which featured a scowling Olbermann tearing into Donald Trump, mostly for his alleged ties to Russia. The show, which launched in September 2016, ended last November, with Olbermann telling The Hollywood Reporter that he was permanently stepping away from political punditry. Olbermann also declared a sort of victory: He said former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn's plea deal with Special Counsel Robert Mueller indicated Trump's presidency would end in impeachment or resignation. "I am confident now, even more so than I have been throughout the last year, that this nightmare presidency of Donald John Trump will end prematurely—and end soon," Olbermann wrote in a post explaining the end of The Resistance. How soon is soon?

The Post reports ESPN has no plan to bring back Olbermann on a full-time basis, at least for now. But after multiple radio and television appearances for ESPN in recent months, a third Olbermann run at the Worldwide Leader doesn't seem far-fetched.