SNL's 50th season proved it's still relevant. Can it stay that way?

The season finale, with host Scarlett Johansson and musical guest Bad Bunny, didn't give any answers about rumored cast departures.

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On Saturday Night Live's cold open, James Austin Johnson played President Donald Trump and Emil Wakim played Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in a sketch about Trump's Middle East trip. Will Heath/NBC

toggle captionWill Heath/NBC

After watching a storied comedy brand finish one of its most creatively successful seasons in recent memory, I couldn't help but think of a pressing question:

What's next for Saturday Night Live?

No matter how well things go on a given episode or in a given season, it isn't long before that question re-emerges — especially given how eager some in the entertainment press have always been to pen the show's eulogy. In a way, it's the biggest drawback for a show that boasts the potential of reinventing itself every week.

Ironically, Saturday's episode didn't give many hints about the ultimate answer, despite capping SNL's highly-hyped 50th anniversary season.

Even though Weekend Update co-host Colin Jost's wife Scarlett Johansson hosted this year's season finale – boosting rumors that he and onscreen partner Michael Che might announce their departure then – they didn't, and everything unfolded in a typical fashion featuring a star who has become a regular, game contributor. (Though Jost did hand his wife a bouquet of red roses during the final goodbye segment.)

The numbers, provided by NBC, tell a story of success: they say SNL will finish its season as the top broadcast entertainment program among viewers aged 18 to 49. (That's a relatively youthful and ad-friendly group for TV watchers.) The network also says this season has averaged 8.2 million viewers each week across all platforms.

So, as much as some critics may still want to shade the show, SNL remains one of the most powerful brands in comedy. But following up the hype of its 50th anniversary next season may be its biggest remaining challenge.

Here's where I think SNL stands – and questions that remain – as it wraps up one of its most successful seasons in recent memory.

What happens to Weekend Update if Jost and Che both depart after this season?

The biggest parlor game among SNL fans at the end of a season is playing "who's leaving the cast this year?" Johansson even joked in her musical monologue that castmember Sarah Sherman was leaving, to Sherman's mock astonishment. And the biggest rumor before Saturday's broadcast was that Weekend Update hosts and veteran writers Jost and Che might be out the door after cementing their status as the longest-running anchors of SNL's newscast parody.

Colin Jost and Michael Che during Weekend Update in December. Will Heath/NBC

toggle captionWill Heath/NBC

In recent years, Update has emerged as the most reliable segment in an often-uneven show, as Che and Jost honed their oddball chemistry as an uncaring provocateur paired with a snarky guy willing to parody his own privilege. Assuming they might still leave, let me breeze past obvious successor suggestions — like castmember and frequent Update contributor Michael Longfellow — to provide a suggestion from left field: Josh Johnson, the prolific standup comic and Daily Show correspondent. It's true that Johnson, who has built a growing fanbase with a long string of immensely popular YouTube videos, already seems to be developing a career on his own terms. But taking the reins of a comedy institution like Update could boost his work to a new level while pointing the way toward SNL's future.

SNL made news this year beyond its comedy.

Who knew an SNL bit could spark real-life gossip about one of TV's biggest hits? After Sherman parodied The White Lotus star Aimee Lou Wood in the sketch dubbed "The White Potus," Wood called the portrayal "mean and unfunny" on social media and loads of coverage followed. (It didn't help that Wood's Lotus co-star Walton Goggins initially complimented the sketch on SNL's Instagram page, fueling rumors of a rift between the two.)

Sarah Sherman during "The White Potus" sketch on April 12, 2025. Holland Rainwater/NBC

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And, in a separate controversy, a bit Ego Nwodim led playing a hacky standup comic during an Update segment prompted the audience to shout out a curse word in unison, unplanned. Nwodim says she eventually talked to executive producer Lorne Michaels to see if the show was going to be fined — and in a bit during Saturday's Update playing that character again, she was a little more careful about what cues she gave the audience. But that earlier bit also produced one of the most talked-about moments of the season. Proof that SNL can still make news even when the subject isn't its landmark anniversary.

Speculation about when or whether Lorne Michaels will leave the show now seems beside the point.

At age 80, Michaels seems like the Highlander of network television – an enduring force, forever the show's wise and steady hand, guiding events from behind-the-scenes. However he has divided authority among his lieutenants, things seem to be working – the show produced a string of consistently good episodes in 2025, particularly in programs featuring guests hosts Jack Black and Jon Hamm. Those successes, combined with the reputation-boosting triumph of the 50th anniversary celebrations, should be enough to quiet the "when is Lorne retiring?" rumors for at least another season. (As I have said before, when the inevitable retirement does happen, if the show doesn't end, I think Seth Meyers would be an awesome successor, or perhaps Jost.)

Despite a Kamala Harris cameo, SNL hasn't quite figured out a consistently groundbreaking way to lampoon modern politics. But that's okay.

It feels like a lifetime ago when then-Vice President Harris sat across from Maya Rudolph in a sketch airing just before November's presidential election. That was also the episode that gave us a cavalcade of celebrity guest stars playing political figures, including Dana Carvey as then-President Joe Biden, Andy Samberg as Harris' hubby Doug Emhoff and Jim Gaffigan as Harris' running mate Tim Walz.

Maya Rudolph and then-Vice President Kamala Harris during the cold open on November 2, 2024. Will Heath/NBC

toggle captionWill Heath/NBC

But too few of those big comedic swings seemed to hit their mark this season. Amid the shock of keeping up with the second Trump administration, SNL only intermittently captured the chaos of the times. Even the political sketches centered on James Austin Johnson's impeccable impression of the president sometimes could feel like a transcript of the real-life POTUS' scattershot musings — especially in Saturday's "cold open" sketch, which satirized President Trump's Middle East trip a day after the real-life POTUS flew back from it. ("The White Potus" sketch, its Wood impression notwithstanding, was a brilliant step up.) The lesson here: perhaps it's time to stop expecting SNL to nail the political moment every week and give them space to find new angles.

In a world where comedy brands are increasingly built on podcasts and social media videos, SNL still matters.

As late night TV erodes in other timeslots and younger viewers desert traditional television platforms, SNL faced a season where it had to argue for its relevance while also paying tribute to an astonishing comedy legacy. (The nitpicker in me is compelled to note that SNL's 50th anniversary technically isn't until later this year; the show debuted on Oct. 11, 1975.) But the massive celebration surrounding its 50th anniversary season, which started last September, elevated SNL by reminding audiences what a cultural institution it truly is.

Indeed, the show's history was too big to fit into one special, with its three-and-a-half hour prime time extravaganza in February preceded by a commemorative concert, Questlove's brilliant documentary on the show's musical history and a four-part docuseries on Peacock. The giant-size celebration served as a potent reminder that, frustrating as SNL's inconsistencies can be week-to-week, there is no other program like it on American television – a live showcase for the best TV comedy featuring top performers reacting to pop culture and politics very nearly in real time.

Small wonder there's a six-episode version of SNL planned for British TV next year.

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