Austin Butler, Quinta Brunson and Pedro Pascal Among ‘Saturday Night Live’ Hosts Submitted for Guest Acting Emmy Categories

Season 48 of “Saturday Night Live” may have been cut short due to the writers’ strike, depriving us of the final three hosts, Pete Davidson, Kieran Culkin and Jennifer Coolidge (crossing our fingers for the first three slots of Season 49?), but there will lots for members of the Television Academy to choose from. Pedro Pascal, Quinta Brunson, Austin Butler and Jenna Ortega are among the hosts submitted for Emmy consideration in the guest acting categories.

Not every person lucky enough to take the stage of Studio 8H in New York City submits for Primetime recognition. For example, Season 47 hosts Oscar Isaac, Kim Kardashian and Billie Eilish were not among the proposed names.

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Of the eight hosts (which includes one co-host pairing) names listed for guest comedy actor, “SNL” hosts Miles Teller, Brendan Gleeson, Dave Chappelle, Steve Martin & Martin Short (co-hosts combined), Austin Butler, Michael B. Jordan, Pedro Pascal, and Travis Kelce are among the contenders.

Jack Harlow and Woody Harrelson were omitted.

In guest comedy actress, where seven are vying for attention, “SNL” submitted Megan Thee Stallion, Amy Schumer, Keke Palmer, Aubrey Plaza, Jenna Ortega, Quinta Brunson and former cast member Molly Shannon.

Ana de Armas was the only woman not submitted for consideration, despite receiving her first Oscar nom this year for her performance as Marilyn Monroe in Netflix’s “Blonde.” Other Oscar-nominated actors in the running include Butler, who played Elvis Presley in Baz Luhrmann’s “Elvis” and Gleeson as a friend who continuously cuts off his fingers in Martin McDonagh’s “The Banshees of Inisherin.”

Guest comedy actor has 140 total names in the running while guest comedy actress has 99, which will yield six nominees for each category.

The “SNL” cast has also been submitted in the main supporting races. Kenan Thompson and Bowen Yang have been nominated previously for supporting comedy actor, and Cecily Strong as supporting comedy actress.

Repertory cast members Michael Che, Mikey Day, Andrew Dismukes, Chloe Fineman, Heidi Gardner, Punkie Johnson, Colin Jost and Ego Nwodim alongside featured performers Marcello Hernandez, James Austin Johnson, Molly Kearney, Michael Longfellow, Sarah Sherman and Devon Walker. Kearney, the show’s first non-binary cast member, has opted for supporting comedy actress.

Noteworthy, Strong appeared in less than 50% of the season’s episodes (six out of 18) before she exited on Dec. 17. Per Emmy rules, and similar to the case of “Succession” actor Brian Cox this year, she could have opted for a guest submission, but chose a main acting category (Cox submitted for lead drama actor).

Lorne Michaels and NBC executives hope for a significant return for the show at the Emmys after nabbing nine noms in 2022 including one guest nom for Jerrod Carmichael. This was a significant drop from its robust 21 mentions in 2021. Nonetheless, it still won its sixth straight prize for variety sketch series, now titled scripted variety. However, it will face stiff competition from the 12 shows in the running, specifically HBO’s “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver” which was moved from talk series by the TV Academy.

The long-running sketch show has had a very successful run with the Emmys. In each of the guest comedy actor and comedy actress categories, it holds the record for the most wins in the categories with seven wins each. Those have included former stand-up comedians Chappelle, Tiffany Haddish and Eddie Murphy, musician Justin Timberlake, actor Melissa McCarthy, and former “SNL” cast members Jimmy Fallon, Tina Fey, Amy Poehler and Maya Rudolph.

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