‘SNL’: Stefon Movie Was Once Considered by Bill Hader and John Mulaney

Saturday Night Live fans almost saw Stefon, the outrageous character created by Bill Hader and John Mulaney, on the big screen, Mulaney recently told Seth Meyers.

During the latest episode of the Late Night with Seth Meyers podcast, Mulaney said he and Hader once talked about making a Stefon movie that would co-star the late Gary Marshall as Saturday Night Live creator/producer Lorne Michaels. The idea would be a documentary-style film about Stefon as a “Weekend Update” correspondent.

“Bill Hader and I once had a discussion, only once, about making a feature film involving the character of Stefon,” the Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse actor said. “We avoided talking about it because we just avoided talking about it, we weren’t sure about it, but the one thing we were sure about was that the film would be kind of like 24 Hour Party People, so like a narrative documentary where he is the correspondent on Saturday Night Live ‘Weekend Update,’ and the thing we were sure about was that Lorne would be played by Gary Marshall. And I think that was non-negotiable. He would say, ‘I’m Lorne F–ing Michaels and I run this town.’”

Meyers, who eventually “married” Stefon in Hader’s last episode, said his idea for a Stefon movie would involve Meyers dying after a crazy night at one of “New York’s hottest” places.

“The only thing I wanted to have happen in that movie — and maybe it was Bill’s idea — was I wanted in the first scene to agree to go out with Stefon, and then a super-fast cut of us at all the clubs, and then I was then zipped into a body bag,” Meyers explained. “So that would be the opening, and it would be zipped into a body bag, then it would pan up to Stefon saying, ‘He’s dead.’ And that would be it! Cause obviously Stefon would have to have a love interest, so get me out of the way.”

Mulaney chucked, but he said he would prefer a Stefon movie to have a happy ending where Stefon and Meyers are married.

“I had no problem violating your real life, as an individual who was engaged and married, and you had a girlfriend and fiancé, we paid no mind to that,” Mulaney said. “I believe in the movie you would fully end up together, as you did on your last show.”

Since Hader left SNL in 2013, Stefon has only made a handful of appearances on the show. During Season 39, he appeared in Meyers’ final “Weekend Update” segment, and he announced he was pregnant during Hader’s guest hosting gig in Season 40. Stefon also appeared in 2015’s SNL 40th Anniversary Special. His most recent appearance came in March 2018, when Hader came back to host and Mulaney appeared as Stefon’s personal lawyer, Shy.

Sadly, Stefon did not appear in Mulaney’s episode earlier this month, much to the disappointment of fans.

Saturday Night Live airs at 11:30 p.m. ET on NBC Saturdays. The next new episode features Sandra Oh and Tame Impala.

Photo credit: NBC