Everything We Know About Fox News Host Will Cain

Fox News has added a new show to the network's afternoon line-up, featuring a familiar face. Fox News personality Will Cain, who has been co-hosting "Fox & Friends Weekend," kicked off his new 4 p.m. series, "The Will Cain Show," on January 21. Cain has taken on a time slot that had previously been filled by former Fox News stalwart Neil Cavuto and his long-running series "Your World," until Cavuto's departure from the network in December, after 26 years.

"I'm an incredibly curious person, and one of the exciting challenges of this new job is the balancing act of transition from news into opinion," Cain told Fox News Digital ahead of his new show's premiere. "I'll be offering the audience my honest opinion, my unvarnished opinion on the news. But I will also be presenting reports and giving the audience the information they need at that time of the day to help make up their own mind."

From his legal background and law degree to his years of broadcasting experience, Will Cain seems like he'll be a good fit for the conservative-leaning news network. However, while he recently got President Donald Trump's support on social media, Cain hasn't always been a champion of Trump or his populist message, which could lead to some interesting coverage in the years to come. As Cain begins the next chapter of his career, we're looking back at everything we know about Fox News' newest rising network star.

When Will Cain was studying at Pepperdine University, working toward his undergraduate degree in telecommunications, the future news anchor got in some exercise playing water polo on the university's team, the Waves. While Cain, a walk-on for the team, only played for a single season, and only scored one goal during his tenure on the team (in a game against UC Santa Barbara), the experience taught Cain some important lessons that he took with him as he moved forward in life.

"Playing water polo at Pepperdine taught me humility, and while I was never the star athlete there, I never suffered from a lack of ego," Cain shared in an interview with the University's athletics website in November 2010. "I went in knowing that I wasn't going to be as good as my teammates, but at the same time I dedicated myself to never quitting and never doing things for a specific reward."

According to Cain, he learned a great deal about perseverance by not necessarily being the best on the team. He stuck with it, regardless of his limitations, and even after his time on the Waves came to an end he was a vocal and ardent supporter, cheering his team on until he graduated in 1997.

When the news first broke that Cain would be hosting his own show, the newsman said he was excited to bring his background in law and analysis to the job. Throughout his education, Cain began to form both halves of the broadcaster he would become. As Cain explained to Jason Chaffetz on his "Jason in the House" podcast in 2023, after studying broadcast journalism at Pepperdine — and becoming disillusioned with how it felt like they were teaching him to be an actor, instead of a journalist — Cain decided to challenge himself and go to law school.

The move was partly inspired by his father. "My dad was an attorney, and we debated and argued at the dinner table, and I remember just being so proud of him in the courtroom," Cain reflected, explaining that he later felt he found his conservative voice while working toward his law degree at the University of Texas School of Law, where he graduated in 2000.

Before he became a journalist himself, Will Cain tried his hand at being a burgeoning media mogul instead. While living in Texas and taking care of his brother — following his dad's death in 2001 — Cain bought up two local community newspapers under a start-up media company he called Cain Media. Under that banner, Cain founded a handful of other publications in small local markets, which thrived under his ownership. Eventually, Cain sold the entire group of newspapers to the now-defunct Stevens Media.

Cain took the money he earned from the sale and began a new venture, Quince Media. A physical and digital magazine targeted toward Hispanic audiences, devoted to quinceaneras — the traditional celebration of a young woman turning 15. The magazine and website was essentially akin to the many publications dedicated to weddings, which promoted quinceanera expos, stores, style trends, and personal stories. Unfortunately, with the recession in 2009, the venture fell apart.

"I was spending a lot of time around something I wasn't truly passionate about," Cain said in a profile interview on Pepperdine University's athletics department website. "It's easy to overlook how you are spending your time if you are making money. But when you fail, you have a chance to look back." It was at this point that he turned his sights toward his original passion — sports broadcasting.

Before making his way to TV, Will Cain cut his broadcasting teeth in a radio booth. In 2015, he started off as a co-host on the ESPN Radio show "Will and Kate," appearing opposite fellow sports reporter Kate Fagan. Fagan later complemented Cain as a co-host, telling The Washington Post in September 2018, "He hasn't changed my mind on any one issue; he's been more impactful. Will was my first foray into getting out of my own echo chamber and radically changed how I looked at stories."

By late 2018, he'd moved on up to hosting his own show, also called "The Will Cain Show," for ESPN Radio. During this time, Cain often appeared as a guest commentator on the ESPN sports talk show "First Take," and built up a reputation for bringing his staunch conservative voice to the network, and debating "First Take" star Stephen A. Smith on a slew of divisive topics related to sports, and sometimes not related to sports at all.

Cain frequently faced pushback from viewers and critics and often took heat from other ESPN hosts. Eventually, in 2020, Cain departed from ESPN and made his way to Fox News to co-host "Fox & Friends Weekend" — alongside controversial co-host and future secretary of defense nominee Pete Hegseth — where his conservative takes have been more well-received by the network's audience.

After it was announced that Will Cain would be hosting his own show on Fox News, President Donald Trump congratulated the anchor on social media. Having the president share praise just two days after Trump's high-profile (and low-rated) inauguration was something Cain told Fox News Digital he took as an enormous compliment. "It makes me feel grateful," Cain said. "One of the privileges of hosting 'FOX & Friends Weekend' over the last five years has been knowing the President of the United States ... watches what you have to say."

Luckily for Cain, it doesn't seem that Trump watched what he had to say when he declared that he didn't vote for Trump in 2016, and that he's been openly critical of Trump in the past. With Cain in a prime position on Fox News, however, it's unlikely viewers will be hearing similar rhetoric anytime soon.