Saturday Night Live with Anya Taylor-Joy: What to watch for

The finale of Saturday Night Live‘s season 46 will be hosted by actress Anya Taylor-Joy with musical guest, rapper Lil Nas X.

Taylor-Joy’s appearance will make her the fifth British host of SNL’s 46th season. The actress is most recognized for her Golden Globe-winning performance in Netflix’s miniseries The Queen’s Gambit where she portrays orphan chess prodigy, Elizabeth Harmon.

Prior to taking up this role, she appeared as Casey Cooke in M. Night Shyamalan’s films Glass and Split and lent her voice to the 2017 animated film Playmobil: The Movie. She also appeared in the 2017 dark comedy film Thoroughbreds, starred in the 2020 period comedy-drama Emma, and is slated to star in the upcoming psychological thriller film Last Night in Soho.

The actress was first a scouted model before getting a role in the 2014 comedy Vampire Academy which was ultimately cut from the final edit. Since then, she has endured roles in the darker drama genre as the lead in the 2015 supernatural film The Witch, the 2016 psychological horror film, Morgan, and the 2017 Spanish psychological horror Marrowbone. 

In the promo, you’ll see Taylor-Joy and Lil Nas X, and cast member Chris Redd promising the best show of the season.

Watch the full promo below:

Will Anya Taylor-Joy be able to keep up on Saturday Night Live?

This isn’t the first time a drama actor has taken the stage as host at Studio 8H this season. Judging by her quick wit displayed in interviews and in the promo above, there doesn’t seem like much of a gap between her comedic and dramatic acting skills.

There’s a chance we might see her break out of her perceived comfort zone and be put in an insanely absurd sketch or she might even showcase her experience in horror by being featured in a movie parody sketch.

Overall, I think her full spectrum of acting abilities will be put on display for this show and may help her find more comedic roles to add to her already impressive resume.

Rapper Lil Nas X makes his SNL debut

This Georgia-born rapper is more than willing to try and crack a few jokes. Before the world knew him for making major headlines after his 2017 hit single “Old Town Road” was released, the rapper was known for posting comedy videos and content to platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and the now-shuttered Vine.

Since then, his social media following and awareness have grown tenfold. He now holds a steady following of over 7 million Instagram followers and over 6 million Twitter followers.

On May 21, he released a video for his latest song “SUN GOES DOWN” on Youtube. Recently, he was the subject of scrutiny after the release of “Montero (Call Me By Your Name)” which departed from his usual genre-bending but relatively clean song releases. SNL parodied the rapper as well as the “controversial” imagery from his music video in the Daniel Kaluuya-hosted episode back in April.

Since the show already did a nod to that specific part of his career, it’ll be interesting to see how he’s utilized, if given the opportunity to be in a sketch. My prediction is that it’ll probably be something parodying his obvious departure from the country music genre but we’ll have to wait and see until tonight.

What are your predictions for this week’s episode of Saturday Night Live with Anya Taylor-Joy and Lil’ Nas X? Leave your thoughts in the comment section below. Even though SNL will not return until the fall, that doesn’t mean Last Night On won’t leave you hanging. We’ll have a full recap of the season’s best sketches and update you with any news that breaks before the start of the next season.