I got in my car this morning and shifted into reverse to back out of my parking space and all of a sudden I experienced a huge amount of play in my shifter. I am still able to drive it but the play in the shifter is excesssive. Does anyone know what happened and what needs to be repaired. Is it my shifter or linkage or my transmission? Any help will be greatly appreciated.

 

Likely the linkage at the transmission end but could also be in the base of the stick.

 

An easy check is an inspection of part #7 and #8.
Good luck.