Posted in: NBC, Preview, TV | Tagged: lorne michaels, michael che, nbc, Post Malone, saturday night live, selena gomez, snl

Saturday Night Live Season 48 May Be "Year of Change": Lorne Michaels

So for the last two Season 47 episodes of NBC's Saturday Night Live, we have Selena Gomez (Only Murders in the Building) & Natasha Lyonne (Russian Doll) as hosts, and Post Malone and Japanese Breakfast as the musical guests. And then after that? We enter that time period that all SNL fans dread. Yup, the summer downtime when rumors of who will and who won't be returning for the next season begin to build. And with the long-running sketch comedy/music series so close to its epic 50th season, those rumors are getting a ton more attention than usual. Adding to our already shakey nerves are SNL co-head writer & "Weekend Update" anchor Michael Che (That Damn Michael Che) and SNL creator & EP Lorne Michaels. The duo spoke with The New York Times as part of a profile of Che when Michaels hinted at a "year of change" ahead. Could that mean that Che's name is on that list of departing cast members?

"If I had my way, he'll be here. And I don't always get my way. But when you have someone who's the real thing, you want to hold on as long as you can." For his part, Che admits that his head "has been at leaving for the past five seasons," after first joining SNL in 2013. "My head has been at leaving for the past five seasons. I do think that I've been here longer than I'll be here,' Che revealed during the interview. "This show is built for younger voices and, at some point, there'll be something more exciting to watch at the halfway mark of the show than me and dumb Jost." That said, Che has also gone on record as dismissing "breaking news reports" about his leaving. "Who doesn't say they're going to quit their job when they're at their other job?" Che asked rhetorically. "I'm sure Biden says that twice a week."

Yup, it's time for Gomez and Malone to share their on-stage promos with the world. Stepping up to help them out with this go-around is none other than SNL cast members Aidy Bryant and Bowen Yang– check it out!

In the following screencap, Gomez took to Instagram Stories to share a look at her going through the sketch scripts and asking a pretty impressive question:

And here's that look at Gomez and Malone hanging out on set that we just mentioned:

And here's a look back at how things are going with Gomez during SNL read-thru (and here's hoping we get some from the cast as they used to during the previous season):

Now here's a look back at SNL's welcome video for Gomez & Malone (with on-stage promos on tap for Thursday):

During a tour behind-the-scenes of SNL's show night with CBS Mornings host Gayle King for his Kennedy Center honor before the end of the year, Saturday Night Live creator Lorne Michaels revealed that he had been thinking of retiring and thought it was a "really good time to leave." But first and foremost, his commitment is to see the show make it to that milestone. "I think I'm committed to doing this show until its 50th anniversary, which is in three years. I'd like to see that through, and I have a feeling that'd be a really good time to leave," Michaels explained.

"I won't want the show ever to be bad. I care too deeply about it. It's been my life's work. So I'm going to do everything I can to see it carry on and carry on well," he continued. And while Michaels was loathed to discuss details on something that wouldn't happen for three more years, he did admit when it comes to who would take on the role next that they had "a sense of where we're headed with that."

NBC's Saturday Night Live Season 47 cast includes Aidy Bryant, Michael Che, Pete Davidson, Mikey Day, Chloe Fineman, Heidi Gardner, Colin Jost, Kate McKinnon, Alex Moffat, Kyle Mooney, Ego Nwodim, Chris Redd, Cecily Strong, Kenan Thompson, Melissa Villaseñor, and Bowen Yang; feature players include the returning Andrew Dismukes and Punkie Johnson, as well as new players Aristotle Athari (Future Man, All Rise), James Austin Johnson (Silicon Valley), and Sarah Sherman (The Eric Andre Show).

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