#‘Saturday Night Live’ Return Date, Pete Davidson Hosts Season 49 Premiere – TVLine

The network announced Wednesday that Saturday Night Live will kick off its strike-delayed 49th season on Oct. 14 with Studio 8H alum Pete Davidson as host and Ice Spice as musical guest. The following week, Bad Bunny will serve as musical guest and host.

Additionally, Chloe Troast is joining the ensemble as a featured player. NBC, meanwhile, confirms that SNL‘s entire Season 48 cast will be back for Season 49.

Per our sister pub Deadline, SNL is returning with the full blessing of SAG-AFTRA, whose members are currently on strike. “Our 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,” the union said in a statement. “They are not in violation of SAG-AFTRA strike rules, and we support them in fulfilling their contractual obligations.”

SNL has been dark for six months. The late-night series cancelled its last three episodes of Season 48 once the writers’ strike got underway May 2. Those episodes were to be hosted by Davidson, Succession‘s Kieran Culkin and The White Lotus‘ Jennifer Coolidge. As a result, the April 15 episode featuring host Ana de Armas and musical guest Karol G served as Season 48’s makeshift swan song.

The now-official Season 49 ensemble consists of Michael Che, Mikey Day, Andrew Dismukes, Heidi Gardner, Chloe Fineman, Marcello Hernández, James Austin Johnson, Punkie Johnson, Colin Jost, Molly Kearney, Michael Longfellow, Ego Nwodim, Sarah Sherman, Kenan Thompson, Devon Walker, Bowen Yang and aforementioned newbie Troast.