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Season 48 of Saturday Night Live has ended early due to the ongoing writers strike. And it’s been revealed that Kieran Culkin, 40, and Jennifer Coolidge, 61, were supposed to host the final two episodes of the NBC sketch comedy series. According to Variety, Kieran was slated to host the May 13 episode, with musical guest Labrinth. Kieran’s second time as host would’ve taken place two weeks before the Succession series finale airs.
Jennifer, meanwhile, was set to host the May 20 episode, which was planned to be the season 48 finale. The breakout star of The White Lotus was going to make her hosting debut with musical guest Foo Fighters, per Variety. Fans are so bummed that Jennifer and Kieran’s planned hosting appearances didn’t happen. But there’s always next season!
The current season of SNL was cut short when the writers’ strike spearheaded by the Writers Guild Of America (WGA) began on May 2. The strike also affected the May 6 episode that was supposed to be hosted by Pete Davidson, in what would’ve been his big return to the show. Lil Uzi Vert was scheduled as the musical guest for Pete’s show, which would’ve coincided directly with the May 4 release of the comedian’s Peacock series Bupkis.
Due to the strike, Ana de Armas‘ hosting episode that aired April 15 turned out to be the show’s season finale. SNL is expected to air re-reruns until the end of May, according to Deadline. SNL star Bowen Yang joined other members of the WGA protesting in New York City this week and said that he’s “really disappointed” that the final three episodes of the season aren’t happening.
“We had a few good shows left. We all came back rested and ready to work on Monday,” Bowen told The Hollywood Reporter. “Pete [Davidson] was very excited to host, even though he knew there was a big asterisk on the week, and there was a looming possibility it might not happen. I think we were all ready to give it our all for the next three weeks before the season ended.”
This is the first WGA strike since the 2007-08 strike, which lasted 100 days. The 2023 strike has caused late-night shows like Jimmy Kimmel Live!, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, and The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, to immediately go dark.