“Saturday Night Live” is on a holiday hiatus.

Why SNL isn’t new tonight and when it will be back with new episodes

"Saturday Night Live" is on a holiday hiatus.

By Jillian Sederholm

Jillian Sederholm

Jillian Sederholm is news director at *. *She has worked at EW for more than eight years. Jillian has previously worked as a reporter, social media editor, and homepage producer at NBC News, Digital First Media, Newsday, and *Random Lengths News.*

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December 27, 2025 4:00 p.m. ET

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Host and musical guest Sabrina Carpenter during 'SNL' goodnights Oct. 18, 2025. Credit:

Will Heath/NBC via Getty

The lights are off at Studio 8H while *Saturday Night Live* is on winter hiatus.

As the cast and crew enjoys some time off for the holidays, fans can catch up on season 51 as the legendary NBC sketch show airs repeats of earlier episodes before returning in the new year.

The network previously announced that tonight's show will be a repeat of Sabrina Carpenter's Oct. 18 episode in which the "Manchild" songstress did double duty as host and musical guest. Then, the first Saturday of January will be a rerun of the Nov. 1 episode hosted by Miles Teller with musical guest Brandi Carlile. Jan. 10 will also be a repeat.

Finn Wolfhard attends PaleyLive's 'Stranger Things' final season celebration on Dec. 18, 2025.

Mike Coppola/Getty

The first new episode of 2026 takes place on Saturday, Jan. 17, with *Stranger Things *star Finn Wolfhard — who also appeared in Jason Reitman's *SNL *biopic *Saturday Night* — making his hosting debut joined by A$AP Rocky doing musical duties.**

*SNL *closed out 2025 with a bang on Dec. 20 in an episode fronted by *Wicked: For Good* star Ariana Grande and musical guest Cher, who returned to perform song duties for the first time since her *SNL* debut in 1987.

The episode also turned out to be the final appearance of Bowen Yang in the middle of his seventh season on the cast. The comedian made a tear-filled goodbye, embraced by his close friend and *Wicked* costar Grande and Cher, whom he's often called his *SNL *dream guest.

Ariana Grande, Bowen Yang, and Cher on 'Saturday Night Live' on Dec. 20, 2025.

Saturday Night Live/YouTube

December also featured new episodes fronted by *Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery* star Josh O’Connor with musical guest Lily Allen, and fan-favorite Melissa McCarthy hosting for her sixth time joined by musical guest Dijon.**

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Season 51 kicked off on Oct. 4 with host Bad Bunny and musical guest Doja Cat. It also saw the addition of five new featured players — Tommy Brennan, Jeremy Culhane, Ben Marshall, Kam Patterson, and Veronika Slowikowska — following the exits of cast members Heidi Gardner, Michael Longfellow, Ego Nwodim, Emil Wakim, and Devon Walker.

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Other episodes this season have been fronted by *SNL* alum Amy Poehler joined by musical guest Role Model, plus cameos from former *SNL *costars Tina Fey and Seth Meyers; comedian Nikki Glaser with singer Sombr; and *The Running Man* star Glen Powell with songstress Olivia Dean.**

Charli XCX, Role Model, Seth Meyers, and the 'SNL' cast during goodnights on Oct. 11, 2025.

After the sketch show returns with new episodes in January, it is expected to go on another break while NBC airs the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics from Friday, Feb. 6, to Sunday, Feb. 22.**

*Saturday Night Live* airs Saturdays at 11:30 p.m. ET/8:30 p.m. PT on NBC and Peacock.

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Source: “EW SNL”