James McAvoy revisited one of his most beloved roles on Saturday Night Live this week, playing Mr. Tumnus from The Chronicles of Narnia.
McAvoy played the role of a mythical faun in the 2005 fantasy adaptation. This weekend, he revisited the role, addressing the awkward impression his half-animal appearance might have left on kids at the time. He was joined by several women who grew up with the movie and shared the uncomfortable details of their fandom.
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The first of these visitors was a woman named Christine, played by Cecily Strong, who said that she had stumbled into Narnia when she climbed into a wardrobe in her Airbnb.
“Mr. Tumnus, I watched The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe in seventh grade, and you became my Backstreet Boy,” she said, shaking with excitement.
“I see, I was your girlhood crush,” McAvoy said in his unassuming voice for Mr. Tumnus. “Let me guess, it was my non-threatening masculinity? I’m sort of jacked but still in a British way.”
Things escalated from there. Christine admitted that she used to draw Mr. Tumnus, and “take liberties.” She also breezed past the fact that her job was running an Etsy shop that sells “vaginal teas,” preferring to talk about Mr. Tumnus.
Chrstine was soon joined by Toba and Rebeccas, played by Aidy Bryant and Kate McKinnon, respectively. All three women showed an uncomfortable interest in Mr. Tumnus’ anatomy, and while Christine was surprised, Mr. Tumnus was not.
“Hundreds of your kind visit me every year,” he revealed. “I suppose, in a way, I’ve become a very unlikely sex symbol for a very specific sort of women. Sort of a ‘lazy Hermione, if you will… To you, I am the perfect combination of man, animal, scarf and flute music. I’m like Frodo, but without the baggage and drama.”
The contemporary fantasy mash-up had the audience howling with laughter, and Rebeccas declared that she “felt seen.” However, when Toba asked how they could go about acting on their fantasy, Mr. Tumnus had to disappoint them.
“I am, in fact, spoken for,” he said.
At that point, Tumnus called out for Edmond, the younger brother from The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. Alex Moffat ran out in a school boy’s uniform, offering Turkish delights to the guests. The women bemoaned this as a pattern in their lives, and decided to go looking for a rebound: Neville Longbottom from the Harry Potter series.
The skit was well-received by fans, who especially loved the line: “Mama wants a boyfriend she can pet.” The skit found the sweet spot of unexpected nostalgia, especially for millennial viewers who grew up on the film adaptation of C.S. Lewis‘ classic novels.
Saturday Night Live is taking next weekend off, but it returns with a new episode featuring host and musical guest Halsey on Feb. 9 at 11:30 p.m. ET on NBC.
