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Popculturology • Deep SNL Thoughts

‘SNL’ closes out Season 50 with Scarlett Johansson, no clues about future of the cast

Colin Jost and Michael Che once again swapped offensive jokes — but didn’t give any hints about whether they’d be back next season.

Bill Kuchman

Bill Kuchman

— 7 min read
‘SNL’ closes out Season 50 with Scarlett Johansson, no clues about future of the cast
Colin Jost, Michael Che and Scarlett Johansson on SNL. / NBC

And that’s a wrap on Season 50.

Scarlett Johansson hosted SNL for her seventh time, closing out a season that was often torn between celebrating the show’s milestone moment — often getting bogged down with celebrities like Maya Rudolph and Dana Carvey — and, well, just being a normal season of SNL.

You don’t get to host SNL seven times if you’re not a pro. This episode was a breeze for Johansson. She was never in the background. She played a wide array of characters. I think Johansson has a real shot at becoming the sixth member of the Ten-Timers Club — which would make her the first woman to earn that honor. This would put the Jurassic World: Rebirth star in an ultra exclusive league alongside Bucky Henry (10), Steve Martin (16), Tom Hanks (10), John Goodman (13) and Alec Baldwin (17).

I’d love to be able to discuss what it meant if this was the final episode for many of the cast members, but not only did we not get any kind of announcement before the episode, NBC cut off goodnights in the middle of Johansson speaking and before we could see if there were any clues in the cast’s interactions. (SNL did post the full goodnights on social media, and besides Bowen Yang and Sarah Sherman crying together, there wasn’t much to read into ...)

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COLD OPEN

Trump Middle East Trip Cold Open

The Donald Trump cold opens have definitely taken a weird turn over the latter half of this season. James Austin Johnson has perfected his portrayal of Trump, but I’m not sure if viewers — and Johnson himself — still want to keep doing it. After using the bit where Johnson’s Trump breaks the fourth wall in a cold open, SNL went back to that again this week, having Trump leave the sketch and sit with the audience.

  • “Season 50 — worst one yet!” Once again, I’m so happy we’re done with Season 50. It’s time to be free of the weight of that milestone.
  • Last shot? Freshman Emil Wakim played Saudi Arabia’s Mohammed bin Salman in the cold open. Will this be Wakim’s final episode or will he be back for Season 51?

THE MONOLOGUE

OK, who was trying to decipher what Johansson’s monologue meant for the future of SNL? The first group to join her on stage — Heidi Gardner, Chloe Fineman, Ego Nwodim, Yang and Sherman — are they leaving the show? What does it mean? WHAT DOES IT MEAN?

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