Austin Butler consulted Dune costars Christopher Walken and Timothée Chalamet before agreeing to host SNL

Wise men say only fools rush in, so Austin Butler took his time deciding if he really wanted to host Saturday Night Live.

The Elvis star, who is set to make his SNL debut on Dec. 17, revealed that he was so nervous about taking on the hosting gig that he reached out to two of his Dune: Part Two costars for advice: Timothée Chalamet and Christopher Walken.

"I picked a lot of people's brains about it already," Butler said on Thursday's episode of the Happy Sad Confused podcast. "When I was trying to decide if I was actually going to say yes to it — it just felt so much easier to just go, 'No.'"

Thankfully, Walken gave Butler the encouragement that he needed to say yes. "I asked Timmy about it and I asked Christopher Walken, and Chris just told me, 'You gotta do it!'" Butler said. "Once I sort of committed to that, then I've just been so excited."

The Once Upon a Time in Hollywood actor noted that he's been a fan of both the show and the episode's musical guest, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, for a long time too. "I watched SNL with my mom almost every week when I was a kid," Butler said. "I feel so honored and kind of amazed that I'm even in that space but I've loved it for so long."

Chalamet and Walken are both no strangers to the wonders of Studio 8H. The Call Me by Your Name actor previously hosted back in December 2020, while Walken has starred in some of the series' most legendary sketches — including as music producer Bruce Dickinson in the hilarious "More Cowbell" segment alongside Will Ferrell — throughout his seven appearances on the show.

Brendon Thorne/Getty Images; Ellen Matthews/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images Austin Butler; Christopher Walken on 'Saturday Night Live'

Now, Butler sees the opportunity to host SNL as a way to show off a goofier side of his personality that fans might not have seen before.

"I was so shy when I was younger, and I still am, but now I just have tools to sort of deal with it," he explained. "But I would break out of my shell when I would make my grandma laugh or my mom laugh and just do silly voices and faces, so this is going back to that."

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