After the most turbulent hours of his career, Jimmy Kimmel is back full-time in his role leading a late-night television show—one that has become much more than entertaining.

It has moved up to essential.

Just listen to the greeting he gets every night when he walks on stage. That crowd isn’t there only to laugh; they’re there to cheer.

Telling jokes while standing on a mark that is suddenly near the epicenter of the storm raging inside American democracy is heady territory for a comedy performer.

But Kimmel looks increasingly comfortable there. There is clearly something about not backing up or backing down that allows you to stand up taller. The territory of late-night comedy on television may be shrinking. Jimmy Kimmel clearly isn’t.

Still, that brings up a major question:

What happens now?

Like Jon Stewart—who this past weekend settled some of the speculation about his immediate future by publicly stating that he wants to renew his deal to host The Daily Show (part-time again, presumably)—Kimmel has been, and is now more than ever, a subject of intense scrutiny over his next steps.

Over the past several years, the long-running host has made no secret of his diminishing interest in continuing to front the ABC late-night entry Jimmy Kimmel Live! for the long term. In the months preceding his showdown with the Trump administration over his right to express his opinions, humorously, on television, Kimmel sounded like he was landing a bit more on the reluctant side about signing a new contract to keep the show going.

Maybe 53–47, he sounded reluctant. No foot out the door; a few toes, maybe.

Has that changed? It’s hard to imagine how it couldn’t have.

The stand that Kimmel took on behalf of bedrock American principles—like free speech, the free exchange of ideas, the sacred right to speak satire to power—pushed him into a leading role in the fight against capitulation to systematic bullying from Washington.

That set him, a TV host, apart from enormous institutions: Ivy League universities, major law firms, media organizations, tech giants, even the Supreme Court—all of whom collapsed like cheap beach chairs as soon as Donald Trump started whispering not-so-sweet threats in their ears.

Trump went even further with Kimmel; he announced he’d been canceled—a notable case of jumping the ax.

But Kimmel’s still in the fight, as is the network, ABC, and parent company, Disney, which ultimately backed his principled stand.

Same question goes for them: what happens now?

The most obvious move would be some kind of ringing endorsement, in the form of a big contract renewal. Kimmel’s latest deal is up in May—coincidentally, or perhaps not—at the same time Stephen Colbert, a genuine cancellation victim, will be wrapping up his late-night run on CBS.

It’s no coincidence because the two stars share the same manager, James Dixon, who is the most powerful behind-the-scenes operative in late night. (He also represents Stewart.)

Linking up the timing of the deals for his two network stars made perfect sense—at least before the hosts became targets of someone with a bad combination of no ability to take a joke and unrestrained power.

Having danced for some days on a thin line between righteousness and pusillanimity—which cost the company reputationally with some of its customers—Disney/ABC would seem to have little option but to woo Kimmel ardently to sign on for a longer term.

It frankly would make no business sense to do anything else at this point. Kimmel has clearly expanded his fan base and elevated his national profile to previously unmatched heights. If he was ABC’s signature star before—and he was—what is he now? The franchise quarterback?

That means the choice will almost certainly be Jimmy’s. His previous expressions of weariness over the grind of performing comedy at a high level multiple nights a week were no ploy for cash enhancement.

Kimmel began taking the summer months off for a reason: he needed to recharge, and to spend time on other pursuits, which included travel and fishing, yes, but mainly time with his family—especially his two young children. (His family includes two different generations, which is why he is also a new grandfather.)

One reason he has often cited for his reluctance to walk away is that so many of his family members have been employed on the show. They, and the other staff members, obviously have an intense interest in whatever decision Kimmel makes.

But he now has another, much bigger constituency. A lot of them took to the streets a few weeks ago in what looked like a throwback to the Civil Rights era: a march for principle, a march to move the nation to stand up to and stop historic abuses and injustices.

It’s a constituency looking desperately for leaders—voices of objection, of refusal to bend the knee and go away.

Jimmy Kimmel may seem an unlikely choice for one of those roles. But not if you’ve been paying attention to him. He has a long personal history of being willing to mix it up with frauds and bullies. And he possesses the most fundamental and necessary measure for the job: a rigid backbone.

Sometimes you seek the challenge; sometimes it’s thrust upon you.

Nobody but Jimmy Kimmel can decide whether he wants to keep going. But maybe it’s no longer just a question of what he wants.