Saturday Night Live Expected to Return, Possibly With Non-Acting Hosts

Saturday Night Live may be one of the first shows to return after this year’s extended writers’ strike. Monday, it was revealed the live sketch comedy is aiming to return either the second or third weekend of October should the Writers Guild of America ratify its new deal with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.

The latest comes from Deadline, which says the show will begin its annual casting process once the strike is officially brought to a close. Late Sunday evening, the WGA announced agreed to a tentative deal, though the legalese had to still be drafted and agreed upon by guild leadership before being passed to a membership vote. As it stands now, the negotiating committee is anticipated to pass the contract to the WGA West and WGA East leadership councils for a vote, which would lift the restraining order currently prohibiting WGA members from writing for struck properties. They’d then be able to begin the writing process at that time as the membership waits for a full ratification vote.

“Immediately after those leadership votes, which are tentatively scheduled for Tuesday if the language is settled, we will provide a comprehensive summary of the deal points and the Memorandum of Agreement. We will also convene meetings where members will have the opportunity to learn more about and assess the deal before voting on ratification,” the WGA said in an email to members Sunday.

The guild’s statement added, “Finally, we appreciated your patience as you waited for news from us — and had to fend off rumors — during the last few days of the negotiation. Please wait for further information from the Guild. We will have more to share with you in the coming days, as we finalize the contract language and go through our unions’ processes.”

Given that SAG-AFTRA is still on strike, the team at 30 Rock would have to proceed featuring hosts that aren’t actors. That shouldn’t be a problem, however, as the show has feature musicians and athletes in the position in the past.

Virtually every SNL episode, other than the select few locked away for good because of a variety of reasons, is now available to watch on Peacock. You can sign up for the streaming platform here.