John Mulaney And Bill Hader Dreamed Up An 'SNL' Movie For Stefon, But It'll Probably Never Happen

Back when Bill Hader was a cast member on Saturday Night Live, the character he became best known for playing was undoubtedly Stefon. The nightlife expert frequently appeared on Weekend Update to offer advice on New York's hottest locations for various holidays and activities (even though he initially appeared in a completely different sketch when he was first created).

When Hader left the series in 2013, he was sent off with a wedding to his boy-toy Seth Meyers. Stefon has returned a couple times since then just for fun, but according to former SNL writer and Stefon co-creator and John Mulaney (who just hosted SNL again recently), there was once the nugget of an idea to give Stefon more screen time with his own movie. Find out about the Saturday Night Live Stefon movie below.

John Mulaney recently appeared on the Late Night with Seth Meyers podcast, and discussion inevitably turned to Stefon since they both have a history with the character. That's where Mulaney revealed that there was a single discussion with Bill Hader about an idea for a Stefon movie, and it sounds like there was at least a solid premise and one hilarious idea for SNL creator Lorne Michaels to appear in the movie, but played by someone else. Mulaney explained (via Collider):

"Bill Hader and I once had a discussion, only once, about making a feature film involving the character of Stefon. We avoided talking about it because we just avoided talking about it, we weren't sure about it. But the one thing we were sure about was that the film would be kind of like 24 Hour Party People, so like a narrative documentary where he is the correspondent on Saturday Night Live Weekend Update, and the thing we were sure about was that Lorne would be played by Garry Marshall. And I think that was non-negotiable. He would say, 'I'm Lorne Fucking Michaels and I run this town.'"

This would be the first time that a Saturday Night Live character's movie adaptation would have had the sketch series actually be part of their origin. That could have allowed for some unique comedic opportunities in the movie, including that hilarious idea about Lorne Michaels being played by Pretty Woman director Garry Marshall, who also had 84 acting credits to his name before he died in 2016.

Seth Meyers had his own idea of what he wanted to see happen in the Stefon movie, specifically with regards to what happens to this somewhat fictionalized version of himself:

"The only thing I wanted to have happen in that movie—and maybe it was Bill's idea—was I wanted in the first scene to agree to go out with Stefon, and then a super-fast cut of us at all the clubs, and then I was then zipped into a body bag. So that would be the opening, and it would be zipped into a body bag, then it would pan up to Stefon saying, 'He's dead.' And that would be it! Cause obviously Stefon would have to have a love interest, so get me out of the way."

In the end though, it's probably best that the narrative of Stefon was wrapped up on Hader's last show when he and Seth Meyers finally got married. It allows Stefon to still come back to SNL occasionally, and the character is probably best left with as little known or revealed about him as possible. Plus, SNL movies are hit or miss anyway, so there's no guarantee that this would have worked out. But if anyone could have made it work, it's John Mulaney, Bill Hader, and Seth Meyers. Maybe we'll still get to see it someday, but we won't hold our breath.