Ariana Grande to Host ‘Saturday Night Live’ a Third Time With Cher as Musical Guest

Ariana Grande is going for a Saturday Night Live three-peat, with the sketch comedy series announcing Monday (Nov. 17) that she’ll soon be returning to 30 Rock for her third time helming an episode.

Coming just over a year after the Wicked star last hosted SNL, the next Grande-led episode will air Dec. 20. Rather than Grande serving as her own musical guest — which she did the first time she hosted the show in 2016 — Cher will come aboard to perform.

The two weeks immediately preceding Grande’s return are also sure to be exciting. Melissa McCarthy is locked in to host the Dec. 6 episode, on which Dijon will appear as music guest, while the following week will see Josh O’Connor taking the lead with Lily Allen — fresh off the release of her acclaimed album West End Girl — performing. The last time the British pop star appeared on the show was in 2007.

The newly revealed hosts and performers build on an impressive run of guests this season, with Olivia Dean most recently providing music with Glen Powell hosting over the weekend. Before that, Sombr made his musical guest debut on an episode helmed by Nikki Glaser, and Sabrina Carpenter pulled double duty the week before that.

Grande’s third spin hosting SNL mirrors the promotional blitz surrounding the premiere of Wicked last year, with the singer appearing on the show — and delivering some now-iconic modern-day sketches such as the original “Domingo” wedding scene and “Castratti” — shortly before the first film hit theaters. Now, she’ll lead the cast on an episode airing almost exactly one month after Wicked: For Good is released worldwide on Nov. 21.