“Willy Wonka, Wonka,” Timothée Chalamet blurts out, interrupting Bowen Yang in a promo for the “Saturday Night Live” show he is hosting this week. The reason why? “Sorry, the actors strike just ended, I can finally promote my movie,” he explains.
The historic 118-day strike ended at 12:01 a.m. on Thursday, just in time for Chalamet to promote his upcoming movie “Wonka” — while promoting his appearance on “SNL” on Saturday. “Willy Wonka, chocolate, chocolate man, Willy Wonka, chocolate,” he says again in the “SNL” promo, unable to contain his excitement for the strike ending.
Chalamet will star as the titular character alongside Hugh Grant, Olivia Colman and Sally Hawkins in the Paul King-directed “Wonka,” which is set to premiere on Dec. 15. While actors were previously unable to talk about their projects on shows like “SNL,” Chalamet’s promotion of “Wonka” marks a return to normalcy for the press cycle of upcoming films and series.
Alongside Chalamet, this week’s “SNL” show will feature musical guest Boygenius, comprised of Phoebe Bridgers, Julien Baker and Lucy Dacus. The other Season 49 “SNL” host and musical guest duos have included Nate Bargatze and Foo Fighters and Pete Davidson and Ice Spice. Bad Bunny tackled both hosting and musical guest duties in the second episode of the season. Season 49 has also featured a slate of surprise guests, including Taylor Swift, Travis Kelce, Pedro Pascal, Lady Gaga and Mick Jagger.
The Nov. 18 episode of “SNL” will be hosted by Jason Momoa, with Tate McRae as the musical guest.
