Pete Davidson’s Saturday Night Live Reunion Has Been Canceled
Pete Davidson's return as the host of SNL has been canceled because of the writers' strike.
Pete Davidson’s long-awaited return to Saturday Night Live has been canceled — for now. After leaving the sketch comedy series last year, Davidson was scheduled to return as host on May 6. However, SNL is officially shut down and will air re-runs until the Writer’s Guild of America strike is over (via Deadline).
Weeks of negotiations between the Writer’s Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers broke down after the latter refused to give ground on several issues, such as AI in the industry and writer compensation. With late-night shows and SNL both shutting down until further notice, it seems likely that SNL may have already aired its finale for the season. Pete Davidson’s grand return as host will likely have to wait until next season.
The last time the WGA went on strike, Saturday Night Live ended its season after only 12 episodes, making it the shortest season in the show’s history. The current season knocked out 18 episodes before the strike began, with most seasons typically having 20 to 21 episodes. Although the Pete Davidson episode was knocked off the schedule, SNL still managed to produce almost a full season.
While Pete Davidson won’t be returning to Saturday Night Live this weekend, fans will be able to stream his new Peacock series Bupkis when the first season hits the streamer tomorrow. Bupkis follows a fictionalized version of Davidson’s life, similar to Larry David’s Curb Your Enthusiasm. The series also happens to have a dynamite cast, with Edie Falco playing Davidson’s mother and Joe Pesci playing his grandfather in his first starring TV role in 37 years.
Pete Davidson’s Bupkis is written by Davidson, Judah Miller, and Dave Sirus, with Jason Orley directing. A number of guest stars will also make appearances on the show, including Charlie Day, Brad Garrett, Simon Rex, Ray Romano, Kenan Thompson, Chase Sui Wonders, La La Anthony, Charlamagne Tha God, Machine Gun Kelly, Steve Buscemi, Bobby Cannavale, Philip Ettinger, Al Gore, Paul Walter Hauser, Sunita Mani, John Mulaney, Oona Roche, Method Man, Jon Stewart, and Marissa Jaret Winokur. Fans can also stream the entirety of the season in a binge session, as it will be released all at once.
Along with his new Peacock series, Pete Davidson has several other big projects on the table, including Transformers: Rise of the Beasts and the true Gamestop/Reddit stock story Dumb Money. Davidson will be voicing the transformer Mirage in Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, which is based on the popular Beast Wars spin-off from the 90s. Transformers: Rise of the Beasts is directed by Steven Caple Jr and stars Anthony Ramos, Dominique Fishback, Michelle Yeoh, Ron Perlman, Peter Cullen, Peter Dinklage, Cristo Fernandez, John DiMaggio, and Colman Domingo.
Transformers: Rise of the Beasts hits theaters on June 9, while Dumb Money is expected to come out on October 20. Dumb Money follows the rise of Gamestop stock after a Reddit forum learned Wall Street was shorting the stock. Along with Pete Davidson, it stars Shailene Woodley, Paul Dano, Seth Rogen, Sebastian Stan, Vincent D’onofrio, Nick Offerman, Dane DeHaan, America Ferrera, and Anthony Ramos.
