Five Guesses for Who Will Host the Season Premiere of ‘SNL’
The drumroll for Season 50 of Saturday Night Live began today when its official YouTube channel dropped a video announcing September 28th as the date for this year’s premiere. That’s a couple of weeks earlier than last year, although writers’ and actors’ strikes had something to do with that October start.
Noticeably absent from the video was anointing a lead-off host for this historic season. It’s sort of a big deal — no one will remember who hosted the premiere of Season 44 or 47, but a lot of eyeballs will be focused on this year’s shows. Who will get the honor? Expect an announcement this week, but here are five educated guesses about who could host alongside my prediction for musical guest, Chappel Roan…
Glen Powell , The Hot Movie Star
Who’s this year’s Timothée Chalamet or Sydney Sweeney, Lorne Michaels’ annual bid to appeal to his theoretical grandchildren’s generation? How about Sweeney’s Anyone But You costar, hot off of Twisters this summer and last year’s Top Gun: Maverick? In this era of streaming and Marvel movies, young leading men are hard to come by — Powell is about as close as we got. Plus, he cameoed on last year’s Sweeney episode and spent the summer campaigning for the job.
Taylor Swift, The Even Hotter Everything Star
Michaels wishes. But with that political endorsement and record-breaking tour out of the way, why not? Swift has hosted before, she’s been the musical guest before, and she even showed up for last year’s premiere to introduce Ice Spice — she’s officially a Friend of the Show. From a pure ratings play, this is the absolute slam dunk.
Steve Martin and Martin Short , The ‘SNL’ Classics
If we’re celebrating the show’s history, what better way than to bring back a former cast member (Short) and probably its most iconic host (Martin)? The guys are already out promoting the new season of Only Murders so I’m pretty sure they could fit it into their schedule. If Michaels is worried that the pair are too old for wide appeal (they’re not — they hosted the highest-rated episode of Season 48), they could also bring along Selena Gomez to capture the youth vote.
Pedro Pascal, The Beloved Contemporary Host
You know what would be a good way to kick off Season 50? Not worrying about demographics or movie promotion and choosing a host who’s actually funny. Pascal was surprisingly hysterical when he hosted two years ago, scoring an Emmy nomination and propelling both Marcello Hernandez (Protective Mom) and Ego Nwodim (Lisa from Temecula) to their most popular sketches ever. He’d be welcomed back with open arms.
Eddie Murphy, The Cast Hall of Famer
Every year features beloved cast members returning to host — last year, the show welcomed back Kate McKinnon, Pete Davidson, Kristen Wiig and Maya Rudolph. It makes sense to lean into that tradition for Season 50, and who would make a bigger splash than the return of Eddie Murphy, arguably the biggest star the show ever produced? After years of self-imposed exile (thanks a lot, David Spade), Murphy made a triumphant return in Season 45. Enough time has passed to make a new Murphy appearance an event worth celebrating.
