'SNL' Sets 'Top Gun: Maverick' Star as Season 48 Premiere Host

By Daniel S. Levine

Saturday Night Live is embracing the Top Gun: Maverick hype with its season premiere. Although the movie has been in theaters since May, star Miles Teller has been tasked with hosting the Season 28 debut. NBC and SNL announced the first hosts and musical performers for the first three episodes of the season on Tuesday.

Teller will make his SNL debut on Oct. 1. Teller played Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw, the son of Nick "Goose" Bradshaw of the original Top Gun, in Top Gun: Maverick. The movie earned widespread critical acclaim and has grossed over $1.4 billion worldwide. It is the highest-grossing movie of Tom Cruise's career and is the fifth-highest-grossing movie of all time domestically. Paramount plans to release the movie on home video on Nov. 1. Teller also starred in the Netflix movie Spiderhead, which was also directed by Top Gun: Maverick's Joseph Kosinski.

The Oct. 1 musical performer will be Kendrick Lamar. This is the rapper's third appearance on SNL, and first as a musical guest since 2014. He also appeared as a guest in 2014 and 2018 when he joined Imagine Dragons and Anderson .Paak, respectively. Lamar is now on tour to promote his album Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers.

Brendan Gleeson will host the Oct. 8 episode. The Irish actor won an Emmy in 2009 for playing Winston Churchill in the HBO movie Into the Storm. Gleeson's next movie is The Banshees of Inisherin, which reunites him with In Bruges star Colin Farrell and director Martin McDonagh. Willow, the daughter of Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith, will perform songs from her upcoming album <COPINGMECHANISM>. Both Gleeson and Willow are making their SNL debuts.

The Oct. 15 episode will see Megan Three Stallion pulling double duty. She will host the show for the first time and make her second appearance as a musical guest. Megan previously performed during the Season 46 premiere in October 2020. The Grammy winner released her newest album, Traumazine, in August.

New SNL episodes air Saturdays at 11:30 p.m. ET on NBC. The premiere will also air live on the West Coast at 8:30 p.m. ET and stream on Peacock. Marchello Hernandez, Michael Longfellow, Devon Walker, and Molly Kearney are the new cast members. Chris Redd, Kate McKinnon, Aidy Bryant, Kyle Mooney, Pete Davidson, Alex Moffat, Melissa Villasenor, and Aristotle Athari all not returning.

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