‘SNL’ Is New Tonight, ‘Gladiator II’ Star Paul Mescal to Host

After Saturday Night Live was off last weekend for Thanksgiving, the long-running variety series is back in full force tonight with a Gladiator II star as the host. Paul Mescal makes his hosting debut in tonight’s SNL, just a couple of weeks after Gladiator II tore up the box office. The actor will be joined by musical guest Shaboozey, whose song “A Bar Song (Tipsy),” has also been tearing up the charts.

Tonight’s episode marks SNL’s first since Nov. 14, so the wait has certainly been a long one. In a fun promo for Mescal’s debut, there were plenty of Gladiator II references, including the Irish actor getting into a battle with cast member Mikey Day, who got an arrow to the heart over a character. It wouldn’t be surprising if there were many more references to the action movie, whether during Mescal’s monologue or in an actual sketch, but regardless, it will be entertaining to see.

Mescal can currently be seen in Gladiator II as Lucius and will next be seen in the 2025 romance film The History of Sound. He has several other upcoming projects, including Hamnet, Merrily We Roll Along, and The Dog Stars, among others. Other credits include All of Us Strangers, Aftersun, The Lost Daughter, Normal People and Bump. Now that he’s able to add Saturday Night Live to his growing filmography, who knows what other roles he’ll be handed in the near future.

Meanwhile, Saturday Night Live has a pretty packed December. Rounding out the final shows of 2024 will be Chris Rock and musical guest Gracie Abrams on Dec. 14 and Martin Short and musical guest Hozier on Dec. 21. There will also be a new edition of A Saturday Night Live Christmas airing on Wednesday, Dec. 18 at 9 p.m. ET for two hours and will have an encore broadcast on Monday, Dec. 23 beginning at 8 p.m. ET, according to Late Nighter.

Considering it’s been nearly a month since Saturday Night Live was last on, it will be nice to spend a Saturday with a new episode. While all episodes are streaming on Peacock, having a new episode airing with brand-new sketches is certainly something to look forward to. Fans will want to tune in to Paul Mescal hosting and Shaboozey performing because, as usual, it will be pretty entertaining.