Jennifer Coolidge was set to make SNL hosting debut before writers strike

Saturday Night Live fans will have to wait a little longer for Jennifer Coolidge to host the show.

EW has confirmed that the White Lotus actress was set to host the season 48 finale in May, before the show shut down in the wake of the writers strike. Coolidge would've been joined by musical guest Foo Fighters. Meanwhile, Succession star Kieran Culkin was also booked to host the penultimate episode on May 13, with musical guest Labrinth.

NBC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Jon Kopaloff/Getty Images; Rosalind OConnor/NBC via Getty Images Jennifer Coolidge, Chloe Fineman

SNL was shaping up to have a busy May, with returning cast member Pete Davidson scheduled to host the May 6 episode. But with the Writers Guild of America on strike, SNL is on an indefinite hiatus and seems unlikely to return by the end of the season. If so, the Ana de Armas episode from April 15 will likely be the season 48 finale.

Coolidge has spoken before about how she once "tried my ass off" to join the cast of SNL, and many fans have long hoped that she might host someday. Cast member Chloe Fineman has also impersonated the Emmy winner several times on the show, including in a White Lotus parody and a goofy sketch that featured Coolidge impressed by Christmas stuff. (Coolidge herself has praised Fineman as a "brilliant impressionist" with a "hilarious imitation.")

Meanwhile, Culkin is no stranger to SNL: The Succession star made his hosting debut in 2021 (shoutout to his now-iconic Spectrum cable sketch), and he appeared on the show as a child, when his brother Macaulay Culkin hosted in 1991.

As for Foo Fighters, the band has served as musical guest a whopping eight times, most recently in 2020. This would've been their first SNL performance since the death of drummer Taylor Hawkins in 2022.

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