SNL Season 52: Every Confirmed Host & Musical Guest

Published Sep 19, 2026, 10:00 AM EDT

Zach Moser has been writing for ScreenRant since 2022, covering movies, classic TV, and streaming TV. His areas of expertise cover a wide range of genres with a particular interest in horror and drama, and the conversations around the TV and film industry. When he's not covering the latest film releases or chronicling the latest season of a new show, he's writing humor pieces for McSweeney's Internet Tendency, Slackjaw, and Points In Case or working on short stories and his second novel. 

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Saturday Night Live season 52 is upon us and here are the hosts and musical guests that we know of so far. On September 26, 2026, the 52nd season of SNL will debut, bringing with it a suite of new hosts and musical performances, enshrining the celebrities and acts as the most important pop culture figures of the last few months.

As of September 19, 2026, we only know the hosts and musical guests for the first four episodes of the show, but that's not all that unusual. Audiences often don't know who's hosting every episode until partway through the season. So far this year, we have veteran hosts, sports stars, and global supergroups making their way to 30 Rockefeller Plaza.

Jalen Brunson

Episode 1 Host, September 26, 2026

Credit: Bleacher Report

It's fitting that New York City's favorite son was drafted to host the season's opener. Point Guard Jalen Brunson led the New York Knicks to the team's first NBA championship in 53 years in 2026, reigniting a franchise and signaling that the new Knicks are anything but the Knicks of a decade ago.

Drafted by the Dallas Mavericks in 2018, Brunson signed with the Knicks in 2022, and is now their team captain, a 3x NBA All-Star with the team, and the 2026 NBA Finals MVP. He's the King of New York. This won't be Brunson's first live TV acting performance. In 2024, Brunson appeared alongside Tyrese Haliburton, guard for the Indiana Pacers, on WWE SmackDown.

Beyond WWE, this is Brunson's first acting credit, joining a long line of athletes who have hosted the show. Quality has varied over the years, between the Peyton Mannnigs and the Michael Phelpses, but it's always a good time seeing someone so proficient in athletics trying their hand in another high-intensity arena.

Katseye

Episode 1 Musical Guest, September 26, 2026

Credit: Jeff Moore/PA Images/INSTARimages

Katseye will be the first musical guest of the 52nd SNL season, bringing their brand of global pop music to the 30 Rock stage. Kayseye is an LA-based girl group with members from the Philippines, South Korea, Switzerland, and the United States, formed in the reality competition series Dream Academy.

Katseye Members
Name	Country
Daniela Avanzini	United States
Lara Raj	United States
Manon Bannerman	Switzerland
Megan Skiendiel	United States
Sophia Laforteza	Philippines
Yoonchae Jeung	South Korea

Their story was quickly turned into a docuseries, Pop Star Academy: Katseye, which showcases all the effort that went into building the group. Katseye draws from the early 2000s for their fashion identity, and their song, "Gabriela", was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance at the 68th Annual Grammy Awards, where they were also nominated for Best New Artist.

Dakota Johnson

Episode 2 Host, October 3, 2026

Image by InstarImages.com

Dakota Johnson will be a day away from 37 when she hosts SNL season 52, episode 2, but it will be her third time hosting the show and her fifth time appearing on it. The Materialists star previously hosted season 40, episode 14 and season 49, episode 10. Johnson also appeared in the "Questions from the Audience" segment during the "SNL 40th Anniversary Special" and in Lily Allen's musical performance in season 51, episode 8.

Johnson has quietly become a mainstay of SNL and has been a part of some excellent sketches. In her first hosting job, she starred in "ISIS Camry commercial", a shocking, hilarious pre-taped sketch that is a saccharine car commercial for 90% of the sketch, only for the last few seconds to reveal that a father is dropping his daughter (Johnson) off at an ISIS recruitment center.

In her second hosting stint, Johnson appears in "Big Dumb Cups", where she, Chloe Fineman, and Heidi Gardner extol the virtues of those massive water cups that have popped up everywhere in the last couple of years. She also mocks her famous family with a self-deprecating performance in the Please Don't Destroy digital short, "Roast".

Turnstile

Episode 2 Musical Guest, October 3, 2026

Credit: Steve Vas/Future Image/Cover Images

Turnstile will join Dakota Johnson for the second episode of the season, their first major performance since winning the Grammy for Best Metal Performance for "Birds" and Best Rock Album for Never Enough at the 69th Grammy Awards ceremony. The Baltimore rock band began as a hardcore punk band, but has since dabbled in alternative rock.

Brendan Yates, Franz Lyons, and Daniel Fang are the only members of Turnstile who have been with the band from the start, and they are joined by Pat McCrory and Meg Mills. Never Enough is the band's fourth studio album, and their third, Glow On, received three Grammy nominations.

Shane Gillis

Episode 3 Host, October 10, 2026

Credit: MovieStillsDB

Shane Gillis, the one-time potential SNL cast member, has proven there are no hard feelings after he was dropped before the 45th season. On October 10, Gillis will host the show for the third time after taking the stage for season 49, episode 12, and season 50, episode 13. Gillis also played NYC Mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa in the Mayoral debate cold open for season 51, episode 4.

As a stand-up, Gillis had two memorable opening monologues, and though there were some nerves in his first appearance, his second was markedly more confident. Gillis' notable sketches in his first appearance include playing Donald Trump in a pre-taped sketch about "Trump Sneakers" and a live sketch where he's Forrest Gump's former bully at their class reunion, where he's intimidated by his old schoolmate's success.

In his second appearance, Gillis plays a beleaguered boyfriend struggling to take a good picture of his girlfriend at a winery, and appears in two excellent pre-tape sketches. In "CouplaBeers", a suburban dad finds the cure for the malaise of everyday life: a massive pill bottle filled with alcohol; and in Please Don't Destroy's "The Sound", he sings with Tate McRae while riding a motorscooter.

Rosalía

Episode 3 Musical Guest, October 10, 2026

Credit: ABACA/INSTARimages.com/Cover Images

Rosalía will join Gillis for SNL season 52, episode 3, bringing her brand of Spanish flamenco music to the show. Born Rosalia Vila Tobella in Catalonia, Spain, Rosalía began singing and competing on television shows from an early age. She debuted with her 2017 album, Los Ángeles, a collaborative effort with Raül Refree.

She's risen to become one of the most successful and critically acclaimed Spanish artists of all time, breaking record after record in her home country and finding massive success internationally as well. Rosalía was nominated for Best New Artist at the 62nd Grammy Awards and won that same year for Best Latin Rock, Urban or Alternative Album, and won the same award at the 65th Grammy Awards.

Inde Navarrette

Episode 4 Host, October 31, 2026

Inde Navarrette is the pop culture darling of 2026, and if you were to place a bet on who would be hosting SNL before the information was released, Navarrette would probably have the highest odds. Her terrifying, vulnerable performance as the cursed Nikki Freeman in the horror smash hit, Obsession, has been roundly celebrated.

Since then, she's been on a rocket ship to stardom, and it was even recently announced that she was cast to play Rogue in the upcoming X-Men reboot film for the MCU, though its planned release is still a long time off, in 2028. Navarrette's career has really only just begun.

Beyond Obsession, she's probably best known for live-streaming Call of Duty and as Sarah Cortex in Superman & Lois, which not enough people apparently saw. There have been several times when an SNL hosting gig has signaled the start of a major career, and this could be that time.

Gracie Abrams

Episode 4 Musical Guest, October 31, 2026

Credit: Yui Mok/PA Images/INSTARimages

Gracie Abrams will join the stage with Navarrette for the fourth episode of season 52. The singer and songwriter has been performing since 2019, but it was her debut album in 2023, Good Riddance, that earned her wide recognition and helped garner a nomination for Best New Artist at the 66th Grammy Awards.

The following year, Abrams returned to the awards ceremony after being nominated for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance for "Us" with Taylor Swift. Abrams released her third album, Daughter from Hell, in July 2026, and will begin touring for the album in December 2026, making her Saturday Night Live appearance something of a preview.