This coming weekend will see Sam Rockwell taking the SNL stage for the first time, but January 2018 has yet more celebs in store. Season 43 will continue the year with fellow first-timer Jessica Chastain, along with SNL vet Will Ferrell.
Much as we saw last season, SNL took time at the top of the show to address a major tragedy with song. Watch this weekend’s cold open, as Las Vegas singer Jason Aldean pays tribute to lost lives with a special acknowledgement for Tom Petty.
Baby Goose is officially in the building. That’s as far as SNL will let him in the first Season 43 promo, as premiere host Ryan Gosling can’t seem to count on his fame to actually get him through the door.
We knew changes were coming to SNL Season 43 after the departures of Vanessa Bayer, Bobby Moynihan and Sasheer Zamata, but these additions are real buzzer-beaters. Ahead of Saturday’s premiere, SNL welcomes Heidi Gardner, Luke Null and Chris Redd to the series, with more than double as many writers.
The banner year of SNL’s forty-second season culminated with an experiment that saw its final four episodes airing live on the west coast. Now, even as Season 43 loses some familiar faces, creator Lorne Michaels confirms SNL will be keeping its new format.