With the release of Stranger Things 5 being one of the biggest pop culture events in months, the show and its cast have been in the spotlight lately. One example of that is the fact that The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon recently had a Stranger Things week with several of the Netflix series' stars appearing on the talk show. Now, another late night show is set to embrace the beloved series.
It has recently been confirmed that Stranger Things star Finn Wolfhard is set to host an upcoming Saturday Night Live episode. Considering that Mike Wheeler is one of Stranger Things' most notable characters and Wolfhard has starred in several major movies, his upcoming debut on the legendary sketch comedy show makes perfect sense. However, some fans of both shows may not be aware that there is a long history of Stranger Things stars hosting SNL.
4 Stranger Things Stars have hosted Saturday Night Live in the past
When Stranger Things began, most of the show's stars were unknowns. However, the hit Netflix series initially starred two actors who'd been famous for many years before Stranger Things became a sensation, Matthew Modine and Winona Ryder. Both of those actors were famous enough to host Saturday Night Live. However, both of them took over Lorne Michaels's show before Stranger Things began airing. All of the information below comes from each actor's individual IMDb page.
Modine became the first Stranger Things star to host SNL on Nov. 5, 1988. The episode featured Edie Brickell & New Bohemians as the musical guest. On May 19, 2001, Ryder made a cameo appearance on SNL during an episode hosted by Christopher Walken. Almost exactly a year later, Ryder hosted SNL on May 18, 2002, and her episode featured Moby as its musical guest. Another Stranger Things star who joined the sci-fi show's cast for its final season also hosted SNL years before becoming part of the Netflix show. On Nov. 16, 1991, Linda Hamilton hosted SNL during an episode that featured Mariah Carey as a musical guest.
As of the time of this writing, only one Stranger Things star has hosted SNL after the Netflix show was released and became a pop culture phenomenon. David Harbour hosted SNL on Oct. 12, 2019, and he shared the stage with Camile Cabello, who appeared during that episode as the musical guest. Easily the most talked-about moment from Harbour's episode was a trailer parody that played off the success of the movie Joker. However, Harbour's SNL parody of Joker's trailer featured the Stranger Things star portraying a dramatic version of Oscar the Grouch.
Now, Finn Wolfhard is set to follow in Harbour's footsteps as an actor who will host SNL while being best known as a Stranger Things star. Wolfhard will host the sketch comedy show on Jan. 17, 2026, during an episode that will feature A$AP Rocky as the musical guest. It is interesting to note that before hosting the show, Wolfhard already had an SNL connection. Wolfhard portrayed an NBC Page in the 2024 movie Saturday Night, which was a biopic that depicted how the first SNL episode ever was produced.
Saturday Night Live returns on Saturday, Jan. 17 at 11:30/10:30c on NBC.