This coming Saturday will mark Scarlett Johansson’s fifth SNL hosting, enough that you’d think the Ghost in the Shell star had it down by now. Not so, according to her first 2017 promos, as Johansson undergoes rigorous training, while another cast member makes their return.
In the election’s immediate aftermath, we had to wonder if Alec Baldwin had the SNL commitment to keep playing Trump as necessary for such a weekly target. Baldwin’s been a sport since November, even pivoting the impression into other mediums, but may hang up the wig before long . “I don’t [know] how much more people can take it.”
It’s about that time of the season when SNL starts sketching out its final weeks, and with it tends to come a bit of turnover. Speculation most frequently points to senior cast member Kenan Thompson, but a new CBS pilot suggests that Bobby Moynihan may actually leave Studio 8H after Season 42.
SNL didn’t quite have its ducks in a row with the announcement that Hidden Figures star Octavia Spencer would lead the first March show; lacking a musical guest to accompany. Now, not only has NBC filled out the March 4 dance card, but so too will Scarlett Johannson make a return appearance the following week.
It hasn’t been terribly long since FOX said goodbye to American Idol, what with the whole “reality competition” craze having appreciably cooled since the early 2000s regardless. Still, leave it to NBC to potentially drag Ryan Seacrest back to the stage for a revival season, throwing The Voice into question in the process.
Alec Baldwin’s been a regular presence at SNL this season, but surely his seventeenth official hosting turn is a big deal, right? Well, maybe not, judging by the reigning Trump impersonator’s promos, which see Baldwin revisiting his SNL past.
It seemed perhaps a little odd that Alec Baldwin’s Trump was nowhere to be found on the first post-inauguration SNL, but Baldwin is more than making up for it. SNL has officially booked a record-setting return for Baldwin as host, and Trump Twitter is officially on notice.
One day after the presidential inauguration, SNL host Aziz Ansari followed Dave Chappelle’s example to deliver a thoughtful and ultimately optimistic monologue about America’s future, but it wasn’t the night’s only news. Kristen Stewart has signed on as 2017’s third SNL host, due in early February.
The initial shock of Donald Trump’s election left it unclear if SNL would continually call on Alec Baldwin for such an extended commitment, but the 30 Rock alum and ranking host has soldiered on, much to the real Trump’s enjoyable chagrin. Baldwin may even follow in Will Ferrell’s “Dubya” footsteps, apparently taking the role to “other venues.”