Is Saturday Night Live New Tonight?

After a few months of no new episodes, Saturday Night Live is officially set to return with an all new season of shows. That means starting tonight, Saturday, October 1st, SNL will begin its 48th season on television with the first episode debuting in a matter of hours. Top Gun: Maverick star Miles Teller is set to host the new episode with Grammy Award winning artist Kendrick Lamar returning as the musical guest, his third time. Saturday Night Live will premiere on NBC and will simultaneously stream on Peacock in the show’s standard 11:30 p.m. time slot.

As we’ve previously reported, the cast for Saturday Night Live has undergone major shakeups over the past few months. Ahead of the season 47 finale back in May there was confirmation from multiple cast members, including Kyle Mooney,  Aidy Bryant, Pete Davidson, and Kate McKinnon, that they would be departing the show. In the months since then however even more have confirmed they will no longer be part of the show’s cast including Melissa Villaseñor, Aristotle Athari, Alex Moffat, and Chris Redd.

A handful of newcomers to Saturday Night Live have been confirmed to appear with Marcello Hernandez, Molly Kearney, Michael Longfellow, and Devon Walker all announced as featured players for the new season. Colin Jost remains the head writer for the show and will continue to appear on Weekend Update alongside Michael Che. Other current favorites like Kennan Thompson, Cecily Strong, Austin Johnson, Bowen Yang, and Chloe Fineman are all set to appear as well.

Even before tonight’s new episode had premiered however, fans and the show’s producers are already anticipating two years from now with the inevitable arrival of Saturday Night live season 50. Series creator Lorne Michaels previously teased big plans for the season, which will kick off in 2024 and conclude in 2025. 

“The 50th will be a big event,” Michaels teased to The Hollywood Reporter. “We’ll bring everyone back from all 50 years and hosts and all of that. It will be a very emotional and very strong thing. There won’t be as many plus-ones, I can tell you that much.”

Though the event will no doubt be a time for celebration for the series, some think it could also be the logical end point. Kenan Thompson previously reflected on the idea/rumor, noting that it might not be a bad idea for the show to wrap up at that time.  

All 47 seasons of Saturday Night Live are now streaming on Peacock.