Saturday Night Live Returns With New Episodes and Doctor Strange's Benedict Cumberbatch
Benedict Cumberbatch might be the busiest man in Hollywood. Fresh off a major awards season push for his role in The Power of the Dog, the actor is hard at work promoting Marvel's Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Saturday, he's taking a break from his global press tour and making his grand return to 30 Rock to host the return of new Saturday Night Live episodes. That's right, the cast and crew of the live sketch comedy are returning to Studio 8H Saturday, May 7th for a batch of new episodes after an extended spring break.
It's Cumberbatch's second time hosting the series, having last been at the stage during an episode on November 5th, 2016. Coincidentally enough, the actor's last SNL stint also coinciding with the release of a Marvel movie: Scott Derrickson's Doctor Strange.
Tonight, Cumberbatch will be joined by indie rockers Arcade Fire, a group making its benchmark fifth appearance on the series. They last appeared in a March 17, 2018 episode hosted by SNL alumnus Bill Hader. In a promo for tonight's episode released earlier this week, Cumberbatch joked he's preparing for the role much more this time around.
"It goes so quickly. You kind of watch the tape the next day. Going, 'Was it any good?' You have no idea," the actor joked. "You're at the call place at 11:30 at night. Even for stage work, that's when you're coming off the stage with who you meet up with. Have a drink or something to eat before going home. That's just when you're going to work on Saturday Night Live. Nothing like it, that's why I wanted to do it again."
There's only one more episode with guests announced to date, with Selena Gomez making her debut on the show alongside Post Malone on May 14th. SNL typically wraps by the end of May, meaning there's only an episode or two likely after Gomez's debut next weekend.
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is now showing exclusively in theaters around the world. What other characters do you think will end up appearing in the upcoming feature? Let us know your thoughts either in the comments section or by hitting our writer @AdamBarnhardt up on Twitter to chat all things MCU!
Cover photo by Rosalind OConnor/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images