Savannah Guthrie is speaking out about her mother Nancy Guthrie‘s kidnapping in her first public interview … airing on ‘TODAY’ Thursday and Friday.

The ‘TODAY’ show played a preview of the emotional interview between Savannah and Hoda Kotb during Wednesday morning’s broadcast … and it shows an emotional Savannah describing the intense pain her family feels.

She’s in tears and pleads … “Someone needs to do the right thing … We are in agony. … It is unbearable. And to think of what she went through.”

Savannah continues … “I wake up every night — in the middle of the night every night — and in the darkness I imagine her terror and it is unthinkable, but those thoughts demand to be thought and I will not hide my face. But she needs to come home.”

As you know, Savannah was back at the ‘TODAY’ show studio for the first time since her mom was kidnapped earlier this month. We saw her embracing her coworkers … and even her longtime co-anchor and friend Hoda wiping away tears.

She told her colleagues at the time she planned on returning to work … but did not give a timeline. Her spokesperson told us she was still focused on being there for her family and assisting the Pima County Sheriff’s Office with the search for her mom.

Nancy was last seen alive on January 31 when she dined with her other daughter Annie and Annie’s husband Tommaso Cioni … and it’s believed she was kidnapped in her slumber overnight.

Savannah, Annie and their brother Camron Guthrie have maintained hope that someone with information will come forward and help bring Nancy home … last releasing a statement over the weekend asking anyone who may know anything to please share the information.

They noted … “We want to celebrate her beautiful and courageous life. But we cannot do that until she is brought to a final place of rest.”

At this time, Nancy has not been declared dead … but as an elderly woman who has now gone nearly 2 months without her daily medication, the family has clearly come to terms with the potential she is no longer with us.