SNL to kick off its new season with Miles Teller, Megan Thee Stallion, and Brendan Gleeson
The musical guests will be Kendrick Lamar, Willow, and Megan Thee Stallion (pulling double-duty)
Saturday Night Live is feeling the Joker: Folie À Deux hype, and honestly? We’re here for it. The movie is still two years away, but it can’t be too early to start painting our faces and reminding everyone that the first movie had “Wall Street bros singing Sondheim” as a major plot point. That’s how we’re getting hyped, at least. SNL is doing it by bringing in Joker 2 cast member Brendan Gleeson as one of the first hosts for its upcoming 48th season. Gleeson also appears in the buzzy Martin McDonagh film The Banshees Of Inisherin, but that doesn’t exactly seem like the kind of movie somebody would go on SNL to promote. Trust us: When he goes up to do his monologue, he’s going to say “I’ll be in the Joker sequel next year.”
Anyway, Gleeson is but one of the new hosts announced today, with the others being Miles Teller (from Top Gun: Maverick!) and Megan Thee Stallion (from She-Hulk!). SNL also announced the musical guests that will accompany these hosts, with Kendrick Lamar appearing with Teller, Willow appearing with Gleeson, and Megan Thee Stallion appearing with Megan Thee Stallion (hey, wait a minute!).
The new season premieres with Teller and Lamar on October 1, followed by Gleeson and Willow on October 8, and finally Megan Thee Stallion pulling double-duty on October 15. The press release announcing this highlights that these will be three consecutive live shows, so SNL might have one of its off-weeks after Megan Thee Stallion’s episode.
Just last night, Chris Redd announced that he would not be returning to SNL for its next season, following the lead of departing cast members Kate McKinnon, Pete Davidson, Aidy Bryant, Kyle Mooney, Alex Moffat, Melissa Villaseñor, and Aristotle Athari. In addition to being the first SNL in a while without any of them, it will also be the first SNL in a while that won’t be available on Hulu after it airs. As of this week, you have to pay up for Peacock if you want to stream new NBC content.