Saturday Night Live: Meet the first host and musical guest of 2026

NBC has revealed that Saturday Night Live will start its 2026 broadcast calendar with a new episode that will be aired on January 17, 2026.

The guest host will be Finn Wolfhard, and the musical performer will be A$AP Rocky, making the episode the absolutely first original installment of the year.

This announcement was made after the show’s winter break, which was observed following its December 20, 2025, episode.

NBC called the winter break “the show’s return” and included the names of the host and performer in its coverage.

The program will be broadcast at precisely 11:30 pm Eastern Time on NBC, with the next-day streaming option on Peacock still available, just like the distribution format that has been used throughout Season 51.

Finn Wolfhard as the First Host of 2026

According to NBC, Finn Wolfhard will be the host for the January 17, 2026 episode of Saturday Night Live, marking his debut on the show.

Wolfhard is a Canadian actor who was born on December 23, 2002, and he is well known for his role of Mike Wheeler in the Netflix series Stranger Things, which was released in 2016.

The series ended with the release of its last episodes on Christmas Day 2025. According to Stranger Things Fandom database, Wolfhard has been through all five seasons of the show.

Besides Stranger Things, the films in which Wolfhard acted include It (2017), It: Chapter Two (2019), Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021), and Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (2024).

He has also lent his voice to characters in various animated projects, namely Carmen Sandiego and Pinocchio (2022).

The year 2014 marked his television debut in The 100, followed by guest roles in Supernatural.

Among his various co-rendering works, he was the co-director and co-writer for the short film Night Shifts and the feature film Hell of a Summer, which was showcased in 2023.

NBC commented that Wolfhard was mentioned previously in Season 51 on December 13, 2025, during the “Weekend Update” segment.

The character played by him coincides with the end of Stranger Things and his staying in the industry through projects in film and television.

On December 23, 2025, right before the scheduled show, Wolfhard celebrated his 23rd birthday.

A$AP Rocky as the First Musical Guest of 2026

A$AP Rocky is going to be the featured musical artist for the January 17, 2026, show, per NBC.

He was born as Rakim Athelston Mayers on October 3, 1988, in New York City and is a rapper as well as an influential figure in the A$AP Mob gang.

His first mixtape Live.Love.A$AP was the starting point of his music career which got him noticed in 2011, followed by his first studio album Long.Live.A$AP of 2013 which was a number one hit in the Billboard 200, as stated by Biography.com.

As per NBC news, A$AP Rocky is scheduled to perform on Saturday Night Live a day after his album Don't Be Dumb comes out.

This will be his debut performance at the SNL venue Studio 8H, he has, however, previously been part of a pre-recorded sketch named "Friendos" during Season 43 when Donald Glover was the host.

A$AP Rocky, besides being a musician has participated in the movie industry, like the one in the 2015 movie Dope and has also been part of major fashion brands through collaborations.

As per Biography.com, A$AP Rocky has been nominated for Grammys on several occasions and has been actively participating in music, cinema, and fashion since the early 2010s.

His role as the first musical guest of 2026 is a continuation of the SNL practice that always combines hosts and performers with broadcasts according to active projects.

Stay tuned for more updates.