NBC Not Airing New ‘SNL’ Tonight, Showing Claire Foy Episode Instead

There is no new episode of Saturday Night Live this weekend, but NBC will be playing a re-run of the Claire Foy episode instead.

Saturday Night Live is taking its second night off of 2019 already before returning with host John Mulaney and musical guest Thomas Rhett next month. The variety show has been on a hot streak lately with viral political satire and huge celebrity appearances. There is no doubt the cast and crew deserve a week off, though many fans will miss this week’s commentary.

In the meantime, they can enjoy a re-run of the episode that originally aired on Dec. 1, 2018 with host Claire Foy. The actress stars in the Netflix original series The Crown. She was joined by musical guest Anderson .Paak, who was joined by Kendrick Lamar and and Tayla Parks for a performance of “Who R U?”

The show featured a viral cold open with Alec Baldwin playing President Donald Trump and Ben Stiller as Michael Cohen. Fred Armisen also showed up as Mohammad bin Salman. The political satire came in strong on a show that many feel cannot surprise anymore.

SNL has re-run Foy’s episode before, though it looks like the network is bringing the fan-favorite episode back around out of order this time around. Last time the show took a week off, it re-ran the Dec. 8 episode with Jason Momoa. After that came the final episode of 2018 with Matt Damon, though the production may be avoiding re-running that episode following the drama with Pete Davidson.

The morning of the show, the comedian posted an apparently suicidal message on Instagram, relating to his breakup with Ariana Grande and her commentary on celebrity mental health.

“I really don’t want to be on this Earth anymore,” the now-deleted post read. “I’m doing my best to stay here for you, but I actually don’t know how much longer I can last. All I’ve ever tried to do was help people. Just remember I told you so.”

Following the message, many friends expressed concern for Davidson, and a few rushed to the studio, including Machine Gun Kelly and Grande herself. The NYPD did a wellness check on Grande, and while they found him to be alright, he was absent from all of the night’s live sketches.

Davidson appeared in one pre-recorded skit that night. Other than that, his only participation in the show was to introduce Cyrus and Ronson’s second musical performance. Davidson is in a much better state these days, though it makes sense that NBC is not ready to re-air the episode this time around.

SNL will be back next week with former writer and host John Mulaney and first-time musical guest Thomas Rhett. After that, the March 9 episode will feature first-time host Idris Elba and first-time musical guest Khalid.

SNL airs every weekend at 11:30 p.m. ET on NBC.