‘The Queen’s Gambit’: Anya Taylor-Joy Gets Ideas For Season 2 In Cut-For-Time ‘SNL’ Sketch

Nellie Andreeva
·1 min read
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With Anya Taylor-Joy hosting the season finale of Saturday Night Live, many expected her to reprise her hugely popular — and award-winning — role from the limited series, chess prodigy Beth Harmon.

She did not during the telecast, which included a brief reference to The Queen’s Gambit in Taylor-Joy’s opening monologue. But it turns out she did transform herself into Beth in a sketch that was cut for time.

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In it, a slew of SNL cast members are pitching Taylor-Joy Queen’s Gambit-themed skits, including Queens Gambit (named after the borough), in which Kate McKinnon portrays a woman with a strong Queens accent who plays chess against Taylor-Joy’s Beth in the basement of Beth’s orphanage, where she first discovered the game.

Other pitches followed: Queen’s Eye for the Gambit’s Guy, Churstles (Hustlers+chess), Free Queenie, Queen’s Borat, Mr. Bean’s Gambit, Dairy Queen’s Damn Bitch and My Octopus’ Chess Teacher.

Taylor-Joy ultimately rejects all ideas but when the SNL actors leave, she grabs her cell and makes a call.

“Hey Netflix, I’ve got our Season 2,” she says.

While Netflix’s The Queen Gambit was always intended to be a limited series, its enormous success sparked talk about a potential follow-up. There has been no evidence that a sequel would happen, but star Anya Taylor-Joy kept fans’ hope alive when she said, following her Golden Globes win, “Never say never.”

Watch the above skit, which features McKinnon as Borat and Beck Bennett as Mr. Bean, and includes a subtle dig at Elon Musk’s recent SNL hosting gig.

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