Stephen Colbert will end The Colbert Report when his contract expires at the end of 2014, take a break, and start gearing up to take over The Late Show most likely in the fall of 2015 — capping an informal succession plan that's been in motion going back as far as December 2012, Mashable has learned.

And there’s no need to switch to an Americanized pronunciation of his name: Colbert won’t go back to KOHL-bert, but will keep the soft-ending kohl-BAYR, which he took on back in college. It was a personal choice — not as part of any schtick — and he's not the only member of his family to use the more French-leaning pronunciation.

SEE ALSO: Stephen Colbert Is Taking Over for David Letterman, CBS Confirms

But Colbert will definitely leave the ego-charged pseudo-conservative personality behind. How he does it will be fun to watch: With eight months left of his Comedy Central show, Colbert will have plenty of time to orchestrate his own demise, so to speak, sources close to the show tell Mashable.

"I won't be doing the new show in character, so we'll all get to find out how much of him was me. I'm looking forward to it,​​" Colbert said in a statement emailed to Mashable.

Will “Stephen Colbert” the character be killed off outright? Will he be subsumed into Stephen Colbert the man? You can bet Colbert’s creative talents will be maxed out for the transition — and seeing as CBS and Comedy Central are close corporate cousins, they’ll have some wiggle room to play with the transition.

Letterman announced last Thursday that he was retiring, with the timetable TBD. The following day, Mashable first reported that Colbert was CBS’ first choice, and that the Colbert Report host was interested in taking the job.

On Thursday, CBS made it official with a statement that Colbert had signed a five-year contract. Several media outlets quoted network executives saying the deal came together quickly after Letterman's retirement, including breakneck negotiations with several candidates.

But individuals close to the succession plans tell Mashable that Colbert and CBS began talking as early as December 2012 about him taking over The Late Show upon Letterman’s retirement. At that point, the timing was still a big unknown — throughout the process, the network was determined to let Letterman go out on his own terms and at a time of his choosing. Though Colbert and the network never entered into any formal discussions until after Letterman's announcement, a handshake deal was made: CBS wanted Colbert, Colbert was stoked to succeed Letterman, and the rest would be worked out later.

The network still entertained calls from interested parties — the chatter among the broadcast community was that Jon Stewart was once considered for the job, but he ultimately faded out of the picture. Over the past few years, The Daily Show gained prominence (most watched in late night among the 18-49 demographic), and Stewart’s other interests — he just finished directing his first feature film — began to make a five-nights-a-week network gig look time-prohibitive.

It's been said that Colbert has been synching his contract to match up with Letterman's; there may be some truth in that. But Colbert re-upped with Comedy Central in July 2012 to run through 2014, several months before Letterman signed a one-year contract in October of last year. If that maneuvering was indeed purposeful, it worked out.

Craig Ferguson, whose Late Late Show comes on after Letterman's, was never seen as a true contender for the slot; it remains to be seen whether he’ll stick around at CBS after being passed over. Other names thrown in the mix were Chelsea Handler and Neil Patrick Harris — but even as top contenders, they were dark horses at best. For nearly 18 months, Colbert was CBS' guy.

One of Colbert's priorities was sign-off from Letterman, whom he deeply admires. The two are friendly — Colbert has been a regular guest on the Late Show — and the two had a conversation several weeks ago about a possible transition. It went well, and in a subsequent conversation after Letterman's announcement, Dave gave Stephen the blessing he'd sought.

Letterman kept his final broadcast date vague, but it’s likely to happen around October 2015, around the end of one broadcast season and the beginning of a new one. That gives Colbert less than a year between the end of The Colbert Report and a reboot of The Late Show, which is in all probability staying in New York, as Colbert has deep family ties on the East Coast.

But Colbert won’t likely wait until the end of 2014 to start noodling on the concept of his new show — when we’ll finally get to see the man behind the persona. Before Colbert’s ascension was made official by CBS, that man got one big endorsement from his buddy and lead-in man Stewart.

“He’s done an amazing job with just that very narrow cast of character, but he’s got a lot more he can show,” Stewart told Vulture for a story posted early Thursday. “He’s got some skill sets that are very applicable, interviewing-wise, but also he’s a really, really good actor and also an excellent improvisational comedian. He’s also got great writing skills. He’s got a lot of different capacities. Being able to expand upon (those) would be exciting."

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