'Saturday Night Live' Sets Season 49 Premiere; Adds Chloe Troast
'Saturday Night Live' Sets Season 49 Premiere; Adds Chloe Troast
They've scheduled a second episode too
We’re getting Lucc’d up heading back to Studio 8H with a quite imminent return of NBC’s long-running sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live. The network has set October 14 for the show’s season 49 premiere.
The entire cast as of the de facto season 48 finale hosted by Ana de Armas, Michael Che, Mikey Day, Andrew Dismukes, Chloe Fineman, Heidi Gardner, Punkie Johnson, Colin Jost, Ego Nwodim, Kenan Thompson, Bowen Yang, Sarah Sherman, James Austin Johnson, Devon Walker, Marcello Hernandez, Michael Longfellow, and Molly Kearney all returning, with JAJ and Sherman being promoted to repertory as is customary upon reaching the third season of a player’s tenure. The season premiere will be hosted by show alum Pete Davidson with Ice Spice as the musical guest.
Davidson, a cast member from 2014 to 2022, was originally set to host the May 6, 2023 episode with Lil Uzi Vert as musical guest that had to be canceled upon the writers beginning their fight for a fair contract, which would be on only day 5 of 148, only ending on September 27. The other canceled bookings were Kieran Culkin/Labrinth and Jennifer Coolidge/Foo Fighters that would have been the season finale. Coincidentally, after the previous Writers Guild of America strike from November 2007 to February 2008, alum Tina Fey hosted the first episode back. On October 21, Bad Bunny pulls double duty as host and musical guest as the show leans more into non-actors to host so the optics are better. He was previously musical guest in 2021. Whether there will be an October 28 show has not been announced.
But there’s still an actors’ strike going on, isn’t there? Well, it has SAG-AFTRA’s blessing, for reasons they explained themselves: “Our members appearing on Saturday Night Live either as hosts, guests, or cast members are working under the Network Code agreement, which is not a contract we are striking. They are not in violation of SAG-AFTRA strike rules, and we support them in fulfilling their contractual obligations,” the guild said, continuing “They are not in violation of SAG-AFTRA strike rules, and we support them in fulfilling their contractual obligations. The program is a SAG-AFTRA non-dramatic production under a separate agreement that is not subject to the union’s strike order.”
If the show is planning to return in three Saturdays from ratification, and announced 9 days before the return, did they have time to cast anyone new? Actually, they did. Chloe Troast, who has worked closely with Please Don’t Destroy, SNL’s writing and performing group that consists of Ben Marshall, John Higgins, and Martin Herlihy, and was apparently on the shortlist after just missing the cut before last season. She’s set to appear in their upcoming film The Treasure of Foggy Mountain, which also stars Yang, releasing on Peacock on November 17. Just last month, her animated series DOHL’S was featured as an Adult Swim Smalls short. She will also soon be seen starring in the college rom-com Sweethearts with Kiernan Shipka, which might be one of the last direct-to-Max films knowing Zaslav’s disdain. DOHL’S can be watched below.