UPDATE: NBC has announced that Chris Pratt will be hosting the season premiere, with Sarah Silverman hosting the second episode. It’s not clear what happened to Murray-as-host – it may have been rescheduled to later in the season or canceled altogether. Our original post follows.
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SNL’s landmark 40th season premieres on September 27th, and the show’s got some big plans to kick off its return to television. According to several sources – including news posts yesterday by local NBC affiliate sites that have since been taken down – the one and only Bill Murray will be making a glorious return to SNL to help ring in its 40th year on the air, while fellow SNL alum Sarah Silverman and TV-turned-movie star Chris Pratt will host the second and third episodes, respectively. The accompanying musical guests, in order, will be Ariana Grande, Maroon 5, and Hozier.
While NBC has yet to officially announce the hosting lineup, several NBC news sites posted the news only to quickly remove it. In any case, all three of these hosts are fantastic choices to open the season, with Bill Murray hosting for the first time since 1999. Between these awesome hosts and SNL’s new writers, there’s plenty to be excited about in the new season.
