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SNL 51 Pregame: 5 Thoughts Ahead of Tonight's Midseason Return

From Kam Patterson and Finn Wolfhard to a post-Bowen Yang season and the first SNL Cold Open of 2026: five thoughts ahead of tonight's show.

With host Finn Wolfhard (Stranger Things 5) and musical guest A$AP Rocky set to welcome back NBC's Saturday Night Live from its midseason break for the first of three new shows this month, we're back with another edition of Bleeding Cool's SNL Pregame. But for this go-around, we're taking a break from looking back to look ahead to tonight's show. What follows is a rundown of some thoughts we have rumbling around in our brains heading into the start of the Cold Open; questions that we're interested in seeing get answered. Here's a look…

Any Reactions/Responses to Kam Patterson's Comments? Earlier this week, the news hit that Kam Patterson had some not-so-great things to say about joining SNL and his run on it so far during the Netflix comedy special, Kill Tony: Once Upon a Time in Texas. "I'm gonna be honest, I'm gonna keep it 100-percent with y'all. In the nicest way possible, it's gay. It's really gay, dog… Understand something, I was on national television doing this," Patterson said at one point, imitating a hand gesture from an SNL sketch. "I've shot at somebody before. You understand me? [repeats hand gesture] You understand how crazy that change is in life?" It will be interesting to see how much screen time Patterson gets tonight, what sketches he appears in, and if any other cast members drop a reference during the show.

What Will Saturday Night Live Season 51 AY (After Yang) Look Like? Tonight marks the first SNL after Bowen Yang's departure. Now that we've all had our time to say our goodbyes, it's time to get down to the business at hand. Who's going to step up from the featured cast? Ashley Padilla has been killing it, so she just needs to keep doing what she's doing. I'm hoping to see more of Veronika Slowikowska and Jane Wickline, who sold me on their being long-running cast members with "Cousin Planet."

SNL Cold Open: Where to Begin? From the Epstein Files and being gifted a Nobel Peace Prize to taking over Venezuela and so much more, the SNL writers aren't lacking in steaming piles of Trump-related nonsense to work with. If they're sticking with recent events, we can see ICE agents going nuts in Minneapolis and Trump threatening to take over Greenland at the top of their list.

Can Finn Wolfhard Pass the Test? I've been noting it since the season kicked off, and it became even more evident as Season 51 rolled on. SNL's writers have been offering up sketches that need a host to either have some level of comedic acting chops or be willing to surrender themselves, mind, body, and soul to the SNL process. I'm interested to see if Wolfhard can meet the moment and shine – I don't have a read on that yet (though I'm feeling much more confident in Teyana Taylor and Alexander Skarsgård).

Can We Expect an SNL "X Factor"? Ever since that weird thing that went down with Morgan Wallen walking off in the middle of the "goodnights" while the cameras were still rolling, so he could get back to "God's country" sooner rather than later, there's a part of my brain that stays on alert for the "X Factor" that could go down. Of course, we always have the possibility of a stage/production issue, and sketch "breaking" is something we've come to expect every now and then. But with SNL being one of the few remaining shows running "live," it's a safe bet to always be ready for anything.

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