Three hosts have been announced that will complete Season 51 of the show. Olivia Rodrigo will host for the first time, Matt Damon will host the penultimate episode of the season, and former cast member Will Ferrell will make his sixth appearance as host in the season finale on May 16.
Rodrigo has twice appeared as musical guest, once in Season 46, and again in Season 49. She will pull double-duty on May 2 when she is both host and musical performer.
Rodrigo is set to release her third album, titled “You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So in Love.” The pop star got her start as a teen actor in several series on Disney, including High School Musical: The The Series. She’s been heavily lauded for her music: earning three Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles, and two Billboard 200 number-one albums in the United States. Rodrigo has won three Grammy Awards, four MTV Video Music Awards, and seven Billboard Music Awards.
Rodrigo will be the third person to serve as both host and musical guest this season, following Sabrina Carpenter and Harry Styles.
Damon will host SNL for the third time on May 9. He previously hosted in Season 28 and Season 44. The Oscar-winning actor and producer evolved into one of the most successful box office action movie stars through the Jason Bourne franchise. His musical guest on will be Noah Kahan, a multi-platinum, two-time Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter from Vermont.
Ferrell is one of the most popular cast members to ever call Studio 8H his home. He spent seven seasons (SN 21-27) on SNL, earning praise for his riotous characters and deadpan humor. His performance in “More Cowbell” has elevated that sketch to one of the most popular in the history of the program.
In his previous five hosting appearances, Ferrell’s episodes never scored lower than a B according to the grades here at SNL Rankings. In Season 34 his hosting appearance resulted in the best episode of the season.
The musical guest joining Ferrell for the Season 51 finale will be legend Paul McCartney, who is making his fourth solo appearance in that role. McCartney was musical guest in Season 18, Season 36, and Season 38. He also appeared to perform musical numbers at the 40th and 50th anniversary Saturday Night Live specials.
McCartney has never hosted SNL, despite being offered the opportunity by executive producer Lorne Michaels several times. Instead, he has appeared in sketches, including as a special guest in Season 5 on Weekend Update, his first appearance on SNL.
The only former Beatle to ever host Saturday Night Live was Ringo Starr in Season 10. That means a Beatle has never hosted while Michaels was producing the NBC late night program.
SNL will air next on April 11 with host Colman Domingo and musical guest Anitta. That episode will be followed by a two-week hiatus.
