Saturday Night Live Returns October 14 With Host Pete Davidson And A New Cast Member
Even though the Screen Actors Guild strike is not officially over, negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) are on the verge of bringing this whole debacle to an end. In the meantime, the Hollywood machine is starting to crank back to full power with the Writers Guild of America officially back at work. Though members of SAG continue to strike, there are some productions allowed to return to work under SAG-AFTRA's Network Code. That's why late night talk shows with Jimmy Fallon, Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Kimmel, and Seth Meyers and more returned this week, and soon "Saturday Night Live" will join their ranks.
SAG-AFTRA has announced that "SNL" is allowed to begin the show's 49th season, starting on October 14. SAG-AFTRA also released an official statement addressing the return of "SNL" on their official site:
"SAG-AFTRA members appearing on 'Saturday Night Live' either as hosts, guests, or cast members are working under the Network Code agreement, which is not a contract we are striking. They are not in violation of SAG-AFTRA strike rules, and we support them in fulfilling their contractual obligations.
The program is a SAG-AFTRA non-dramatic production under a separate agreement that is not subject to the union's strike order."
Along with that news, "SNL" has officially announced that former cast member Pete Davidson will return to host the show for the first time. Davidson was actually supposed to host the show at the end of the 48th season back in the spring, but that's when the Hollywood strikes officially began, and the final three episodes of "SNL" season 48 never happened. But that's not all, because "SNL" has also announced that hip-hop artist Bad Bunny ("Bullet Train") will be making his hosting debut and pulling double duty as musical guest on October 21.
If you thought that was all the exciting news we had from "SNL," think again. When the late-night sketch comedy show returns next week, there will be one new cast member among the featured players.
Welcome Chloe Troast to SNL!
"Saturday Night Live" season 49 will be bringing back Michael Che, Mikey Day, Andrew Dismukes, Chloe Fineman, Heidi Gardner, Punkie Johnson, Colin Jost, Ego Nwodim, Kenan Thompson and Bowen Yang as repertory players. Furthermore, James Austin Johnson and Sarah Sherman have been promoted to the primary cast as well. Otherwise, Marcello Hernandez, Molly Kearney, Michael Longfellow, and Devon Walker are also back as featured players. Joining them will be one new featured cast member.
The official "SNL" Twitter account announced comedian Chloe Troast has joined the cast of the series. Troast actually already has a history with some "SNL" contemporaries, because she's worked closely with Ben Marshall, John Higgins, and Martin Herlihy, better known as Please Don't Destroy. In fact, Troast will be seen in the comedy team's upcoming Peacock movie "The Treasure of Foggy Mountain." Plus, Deadline says Troast actually came close to landing a slot in the cast of "SNL" last year.
Here's a sketch that Troast co-wrote with Ben Marshall, in which they both also star:
A New Jersey native, Troast co-wrote and starred in the webseries "The Basics," which might resonate with some younger viewers. But she's also landed the career-sparking accolade of being named among Just For Laughs' New Faces of Comedy Class of 2023. She'll soon appear in a college romantic comedy called "Sweethearts," starring Kiernan Shipka, and she also works on the Adult Swim Smalls series "Good Service."
On an interesting note, Troast also directed this music video for the band The Convenience, in which she also stars, along with the boys from Please Don't Destroy:
It's easy to see how she will fit in with the cast of "SNL," and we can't wait to see her in action next week. Be sure to come back for our recaps and reviews of each new episode!