SNL Reveals First Season 48 Hosts Including Megan Thee Stallion and More

By Spencer Perry

Ahead of the season 48 premiere of Saturday Night Live, the long-running NBC comedy series has announced the first three hosts and musical guests that will appear on the show's new episodes starting in October. It all begins on October 1st with Top Gun: Maverick star Miles Teller set to host the Season 48 premiere, marking his first time hosting. He'll be joined by Kendrick Lamar as musical guest, marking his third time. Next up on Saturday, October 8th will be Primetime Emmy winner Brendan Gleeson, promoting his upcoming film The Banshees of Inisherin, as host with Willow, daughter of Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith, appearing as musical guest.

Saturday October 15th will bring a host pulling double duty with Megan Thee Stallion set to not only host the episode but also act as musical guest. This will mark the second appearance by the Grammy-award winning artist, having previously acted as the musical guest when Chris Rock hosted back in 2020. Megan Thee Stallion joins rare company for playing both roles on the series, joining a roster that also includes Ariana Grande, Harry Styles, Elton John, Janet Jackson, and even Willie Nelson. In recent years SNL has recruited more host/musical guest combos including Lizzo, Billie Eilish, and Nick Jonas.

The new season of Saturday Night Live will look much different for viewers who have been watching this show as a number of cast members departed in the time between seasons. Longtime stars Kyle Mooney,  Aidy Bryant, Pete Davidson, and Kate McKinnon all announced their departures ahead of the season 47 finale. In the time since even more have annoucned they won't be returning including Alex Moffat, Melissa Villaseñor, Aristotle Athari, and Chris Redd 

Some new faces have already been confirmed however with Marcello Hernandez, Molly Kearney, Michael Longfellow, and Devon Walker all set to appear as featured players. Cast members that will seemingly return include Sarah Sherman, James Austin Johnson, Punkie Johnson, Bowen Yang, Andrew Dismukes, Chloe Fineman, Kennan Thompson, Cecily Strong, Ego Nwodim, Heidi Gardner, Mikey Day, Colin Jost, and Michael Che. 

The potential for an ending to SNL has been a large part of the rumor mill in recent years with Kenan Thompson even addressing hte idea that iw could be over after it hits season 50. 

"I mean, there could be a lot of validity to that rumor because 50 is a good number to stop at, you know what I'm saying, that's an incredible package. [Michaels] will be, you know, probably close to 80-years-old at that point and, you know, he's the one that's had his touch on the whole thing," Kenan told Charlamagne tha God. "So if somebody tries to come into his shoes, you know it's a good opportunity for NBC as well, you know what I'm saying, so maybe they might slash the budget. And then at that point you can't really do the same kind of show, so that's unfair to just watch it really go down kind of in flames or whatever like for real for real because of those restrictions, you know what I'm saying. And it'll just be a different thing, so capping it at 50 might not be a bad idea, I don't know."

Saturday Night Live Season 48 premieres on Saturday, October 1st on both NBC and Peacock. 

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