Saturday Night Live‘s milestone 50th season will kick off on Sept. 28 with a five-show run featuring all-star host and musical guest pairings.
The season will open with first-time host Jean Smart and musical guest Jelly Roll. “The premiere of the 50th season of SNL. BRB going to cry for a few hours and call every family member I have,” Jelly Roll, who will also be making his debut as musical guest, wrote on Instagram. “Bringing therapeutic music to my favorite show ever. God is Good.”
Comedian Nate Bargatze will host on Oct. 5 with musical guest Coldplay, while Ariana Grande will host the Oct. 12 episode with Stevie Nicks as musical guest. On Oct. 19, Michael Keaton and Billie Eilish will serve as the respective host and musical guest. The following weekend, on Nov. 2, pop supernova Chappell Roan will make her Saturday Night Live debut with John Mulaney hosting the show for the sixth time.
Over the weekend, Smart won her third Emmy Award for Hacks. Jelly Roll took the stage there, too, performing “I Am Not Okay” for the awards show’s in memoriam segment. The Bargatze-Coldplay episode marks the comedian’s second time hosting the sketch-comedy show and the band’s eighth time appearing as musical guest. Their 10th album Moon Music will be released the day prior.
Grande has hosted once before and returns in anticipation of Wicked, the film adaptation of the popular Broadway musical. The actress and singer plays Glinda, who eventually becomes the Good Witch. Nicks is no witch, but she famously has the wardrobe of one. It has been nearly a full decade since the musician last released a full-length studio album, so her song selections for the night will be anyone’s guess.
Keaton last hosted in 2015 and will appear on the show in tandem with his return as Beetlejuice in the recently released sequel film Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. Eilish performed as musical guest in December 2023, but has since released her third studio album Hit Me Hard and Soft. “Coming baaaaack ;),” she wrote on Instagram.
Saturday Night Live has been ramping up for its 50th season for months in the lead up to the official premiere. This included the addition of a few new cast members, while others departed from the team. Additionally, a three-hour special celebrating five decades of SNL is scheduled to premiere on Sunday, Feb. 16 and Saturday Night, Jason Reitman’s forthcoming film about the first-ever SNL broadcast, will hit theaters on Oct. 11.
