The new year brings new episodes of our favorite shows. That’s the way it’s been for the longest time, and it’s something that we’ve come to expect. Saturday Night Live will be back in January 2026, but not tonight, Saturday, Jan. 4, but there isn’t too much longer left to wait.
Most late night shows will return this week. We’ll see the return of the broadcast weeknight shows on Monday, Jan. 5, so it’s absolutely understandable that you’re expecting SNL to return early as well. This team needs just a little more time to recover from the winter break.
Saturday Night Live January 2026 return date
As we mentioned previously, Saturday Night Live will return on Saturday, Jan. 17. It will air at the usual time of 11:30/10:30c on NBC, and you’ll be able to watch it through all your usual methods. The deal between NBC and Fubo TV is still being negotiated, but hopefully, by the time the new episode is ready to air, it’ll be back!
Finn Wolfhard will take over the hosting duties of SNL when it returns. Rocky A$AP will be the musical guest, making his debut on the series as a musical guest, but he has made a cameo in the past when Donald Glover hosted.
Wolfhard and Rocky A$AP have some big boots to fill. Ariana Grande and Cher pulled in the strongest Christmas episode in five years, and it made it to the most-watched episode of 2025. In fact, it was the most-watched episode since Kamala Harris cameoed on the show ahead of the 2024 elections. While Grande was surely a draw, the fact that Bowen Yang announced that it was his last show would have also pulled in the viewers.
There’s no more Bowen Yang on SNL
That’s right, the Saturday, Dec. 20 episode was the last for Bowen Yang. This was his choice, and we fully respect when that happens. It had only been months earlier that Yang had mentioned that he viewed Saturday Night Live as a stepping stone in a comedy career, and that’s what he’s used it as. We can’t be mad when he’s stuck to his (likely) original intentions.
He did deliver some excellent performances throughout the night, and he shared a heartfelt message to everyone on social media afterward. He will be missed, and it’ll be interesting to see how Saturday Night Live fills the gap in 2026. It’s not going to be an easy gap to fill, even if Yang had been underused a little throughout the recent season.
Saturday Night Live will return on Saturday, Jan. 17 on NBC.