Lorne Michaels Has ‘No Immediate Plan’ to Leave ‘Saturday Night Live’ After Season 50
Lorne Michaels is giving Saturday Night Live an anniversary gift. As the show enters its 50th season, the sketch-comedy show’s creator has presented it with the gift of his continued involvement in it. In 2020, Michaels planted the seeds of the idea that he would exit the show following this milestone, but has since made a decision to ride it out until the end, whenever that might be.
“It’s more about keeping it on course than anything else, and, obviously, I really love it,” Michaels told the Hollywood Reporter. “And every year, there are more and more people that I rely on for other things, but, in the end, you really need someone to say, ‘This is what we’re doing.’ So, I don’t really have an answer; I just know that this is kind of what I do and as long as I can keep doing it, I’ll keep doing it. There’s no immediate plan.”
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Michaels created SNL in 1975, serving as producer and executive producer across more than 800 episodes over the past five decades. Season 50 will premiere on Sept. 28 with host Jean Smart and musical guest Jelly Roll. Coldplay, Steve Nicks, Billie Eilish, and Chappell Roan will perform across the first five shows, with Nate Bargatze, Ariana Grande, Michael Keaton, and John Mulaney hosting.
In the same Hollywood Reporter interview, SNL Weekend Update hosts Colin Jost and Michael Che discussed the internal conversation about Michaels’ eventual departure — or really, the lack of conversation around it. “No one who works there thinks he’s leaving,” Jost said. “And all the people that are being talked about as possible successors, no one wants him to leave, and no one wants to have to follow him.”
Che added: “Nobody wants to face the reality that, at some point, he won’t be doing it … Honestly, I don’t think it could ever be done by one person again. I think it will be a full committee. The show is in his image. I think people will appreciate when it’s not around anymore how much he actually has done for comedy. Any other show loses a star like Will Ferrell, and the show is not the same. SNL has lost maybe 30 of the biggest comedy stars of all time, and it’s still on and relevant.”
Former Weekend Update anchor Seth Meyers echoed a similar sentiment when questioned about his insight into who might replace Michaels. “I think this is a false narrative that Lorne is going anywhere,” the late-night host said on Mike Birbiglia’s Working It Out podcast earlier this year. “I think it made sense for Lorne who’s, yeah, got a flare for the dramatic to say, I think I’ll be done at 50. Yeah. But now, it’s not like Lorne’s got something else he wants to do more than this.”
A three-hour anniversary special celebrating five decades of SNL will premiere on Sunday, Feb. 16, 2025.
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