The fiftieth season of American sketch comedy late night television program Saturday Night Live is set to air in late 2024 and early 2025 on NBC.[1]
| Saturday Night Live | |
|---|---|
| Season 50 | |
| Release | |
| Original network | NBC |
| Original release | 2024 |
| Season chronology | |
In addition to the standard episodes hosted by celebrity guests and featuring musical acts, the series will also have several months of acknowledgements, leading to a three-hour celebratory special retrospective in February 2025.
Production
In late 2021, long-time producer Lorne Michaels stated that he was committed to continuing on the series through the fiftieth season (it was then on 47) and suggested that he may retire afterward.[2]
The subsequent year, Kenan Thompson speculated that the series may end if Michaels left, saying, "He's the one that's had his touch on the whole thing... It opens the opportunity for a lot of bullshit to come into the game because he's such a legend that he keeps off those corporate wolves".[3]
During Saturday Night Live season 49, Michaels suggested that 2000s-era member Tina Fey could take over, but insisted that he would finish the next season before any dramatic changes.[4] He reiterated these plans in May, when a 50th anniversary special was announced that would celebrate the series' history on February 16, 2025.[5]
Prior to the season start around October 2024, NBC will begin retrospectives on the show with their mid-year coverage of the 2024 Summer Olympics,[1] and Michaels intends to bring back everyone from the previous decades as well as hosts and a variety of musical guests who have helped shape the show.[6]