‘SNL’ taps Pete Davidson, Ice Spice and Bad Bunny for post-writers’ strike return
Pete Davidson, Ice Spice and Bad Bunny will help usher in the latest season of “Saturday Night Live,” weeks after the writers’ strike ended in late September.
NBC announced Wednesday that “SNL” Season 49 would premiere Oct. 14, with Davidson returning to host for the second time this year. Ice Spice, best known for her hits “In Ha Mood” and “Princess Diana,” will be his musical guest as she makes her Studio 8H debut.
On Oct. 21, Bad Bunny will return to “SNL,” pulling double duty as the show’s host and musical guest. It will be the Latin pop star’s first time hosting the sketch series and his second time performing. He first graced the stage in February 2021.
Writers from ‘The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,’ ‘Primo’ and ‘Abbott Elementary’ react to the tentative deal to end their bitter strike.
The network also revealed Wednesday that the entire cast, including Bowen Yang, Ego Nwodim and Chloe Fineman, would return for Season 49. Comedian Chloe Troast joins the cast as a featured player this season.
On Sept. 24, the Writers Guild of America and major Hollywood studios struck a tentative deal that would end the strike, after months of tension and uncertainty. Actors are still on strike, but SAG-AFTRA voiced support on Wednesday for guild members who are part of the “SNL” cast.
“They are not in violation of SAG-AFTRA strike rules, and we support them in fulfilling their contractual obligations,” the union said in a statement shared with The Times. “The program is a SAG-AFTRA non-dramatic production under a separate agreement that is not subject to the union’s strike order.”
The statement also said that a number of “SNL” cast members had “contractual obligations to the show prior to the strike.”
“By not showing up to work, our performers can be held in breach of contract and the Union is prohibited from advising them not to work,” SAG-AFTRA’s statement added.
‘The Drew Barrymore Show’ has announced a new start date for Season 4 after the Hollywood writers’ strike ended last week.
The dual Hollywood strikes, with the writers’ strike beginning in May, brought production and promotion of film and television projects to a screeching halt. Since then, both the WGA and SAG-AFTRA have met with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers — which represents major Hollywood studios — to address a number of issues, including residuals and the growing use of artificial intelligence in the entertainment industry.
In recent weeks, a number of television shows have worked to get back on track. Late-night TV hosts Jimmy Fallon, Seth Meyers, Jimmy Kimmel, Stephen Colbert and John Oliver premiered their first episodes in five months this week.
The daytime space also is making a programming comeback as Drew Barrymore, Kelly Clarkson and Jennifer Hudson tout new fall premiere dates for their talk shows. Even with the WGA strike over, on-air returns aren’t going entirely to plan for everyone, with Barrymore’s writers declining to return.
Times staff writers Wendy Lee and Christi Carras contributed to this report.
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