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With just three episodes left Season 51 of Saturday Night Live the show announced the final host + musical guest combinations. Olivia Rodrigo will pull double duty as host and musical guest on May 2nd. Matt Damon and Noah Kahan will team up on May 9th. And Saturday Night Live Season 51 will come to a finale with Will Ferrell as host and Paul McCartney as the musical guest.
Bringing out two of the heaviest hitters of all time in their respective fields for the finale has reignited Lorne Michaels retirement rumors for some.
When Will Lorne Michaels Retire From ‘Saturday Night Live’?
As thing stand, the 81-year-old SNL creator and showrunner Lorne Michaels has never announced a specific retirement date. During the ‘SNL 50′ celebrations last year, Lorne remarked “I don’t feel I’m done” and suggested he will continue running Saturday Night Live until he no longer feels capable and useful.
At this point, the only real ‘reason’ anyone has to believe that a Lorne Michaels retirement announcement is imminent is because Will Ferrell and Paul McCartney are teaming up for the SNL51 final.
A post on Threads from @feistyfrank sort of ignited this discussion. On Threads, he wrote “Will Ferrell hosting + Paul McCartney performing def feels like a Lorne Michaels goodbye / send-off final episode lineup.”
The first reply states “his tenure overlapped with Tina Fey. Wouldn’t be surprised if this is when she is announced taking over.” Many have long considered Tina Fey to be the heir apparent to Lorne Michaels for when his retirement from Saturday Night Live becomes official. You would be hard-pressed to find a diehard SNL fan who doesn’t think Tina is the perfect fit for the role after her long tenure on the show and success with 30 Rock and other projects.
It is also worth noting that this appearance means Paul McCartney is joining the 5x musical guest club on SNL, an elite group that includes Paul Simon, Justin Timberlake, and Jack White. That’s the entire list so far of musicians to perform 5 or more times on SNL.
Personally, I don’t think this signals his retirement. The Morgan Neville-directed documentary LORNE premieres in theaters on April 17th and will cover his life and impact as a behind-the-scenes look at Lorne’s roles n Saturday Night Live.
After SNL 50 it was evident that Lorne Michaels could call his own shots whenever he wanted and bring in the industry’s heaviest hitters on a whim. I think that’s what is going on in the season finale, not some prelude to a retirement. But you never know.