Kumail Nanjiani and Wonder Woman Added to SNL’s Season 43 Opening Lineup

at
Share This Post

To start its 43rd season, Saturday Night Live is calling in a Blade Runner, Wonder Woman and the guy from “Silicon Valley”.

Lorne Michaels is counting on three very bankable movie stars to host the opening episodes of Saturday Night Live‘s new season. SNL announced via Twitter that in addition to Ryan Gosling, who was previously revealed as the September 30th season premiere host on Weekend Update:Summer Edition, Gal Gadot and Kumail Nanjiani will host episodes 2 and 3 of season 43 respectively.

Gal Gadot is now best known to audiences as “Wonder Woman“. Her film, where she starred as the amazing Amazon was the blockbuster hit of the summer, topping all other popcorn season offerings with a gross of well over $400 million. Gadot will host Saturday Night Live on October 7th, a week after Ryan Gosling opens the season and a over a full month before Gadot’s new film, Justice League, hits theaters, which makes you question the timing of her SNL debut. Why so soon before her premiere date? Or does this mean that another member of the Justice League might host closer to the film’s opening? Like Ben “Batman” Affleck who’s already a member in good standing of SNL‘s Five-Timers Club. Gal Gadot is joined by musical guest Sam Smith on the October 7th episode.

A week after Gal Gadot’s SNL debut, another first time host takes the stage at Studio 8-H, Kumail Nanjiani will host on October 14th. Nanjiani is already known for his role of Dinesh Chugtai, part of the Pied Piper think tank on HBO’s Silicon Valley, but he crushed it both critically and at the box office with his summer independent dramedy, “The Big Sick“. The film was packed with comedy firepower. It stars Nanjiani who co-wrote it with his wife Emily V. Gordon. The Big Sick is based on the very serious story and the very funny and awkward moments of their relationship. It co-starred Zoe Kazan, Holly Hunter and Ray Romano and was directed by Michael Showalter and produced by Judd Apatow. The movie was loved by critics and has a 98% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. On October 14th, Kumail Nanjiani’s musical guest on SNL will be Pink.

The other big news to come out of Saturday Night Live‘s announcement of this year’s hosts so far, is that the series will continue its practice from late last season of going live across all time zones so that all of America can watch SNL live at the very same time.

Saturday Night Live is coming back following a season of its best ratings in 20 years and its first Prime Time Emmy win for Outstanding Variety Sketch Series since 1993. The series took home other multiple wins on Emmy night, including awards for Alec Baldwin and Kate McKinnon, as well as Emmys for guest hosts Melissa McCarthy and Dave Chappelle.

The 43rd season of Saturday Night Live kicks off Saturday, September 30th with host Ryan Gosling and musical guest Jay-Z at 11:30pm on NBC.

Ernie Tripper
Ernie Tripper