Top 12 Oscar contenders who should host ‘SNL’ for first time: Greta Gerwig, Cillian Murphy, Halle Bailey …

Every year, film studios pitch their hottest Oscar contenders to “Saturday Night Live” in the hopes that hosting it would give them a boost during awards season. In recent years, actors like Casey Affleck (“Manchester by the Sea,” 2017), Emma Stone (“La La Land,” 2017), Sam Rockwell (“Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,” 2018) and Ariana DeBose (“West Side Story,” 2022) all wound up winning Academy Awards just months after appearing on NBC’s late night program. That got us thinking: which 2024 Oscar contenders should host “SNL” for the first time this year? Note that we only considered “SNL” virgins for our Top 12 list below, so past hosts like Stone (“Poor Things”) aren’t included.

Greta Gerwig (“Barbie”) — Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay Oscar contender
Gerwig is the queen of the 2023 box office as her movie “Barbie,” a live-action take on the classic Mattel doll, made $635 in the United States and $1.4 billion worldwide. The filmmaker is already a three-time Oscar nominee for “Lady Bird” (writing and directing) and “Little Women” (writing), and she could earn three more bids this year for “Barbie.” On the “SNL” front, Gerwig previously had a cameo during a 2017 episode that was hosted by her frequent collaborator, Saoirse Ronan.

Cillian Murphy (“Oppenheimer”) — Best Actor Oscar contender
Murphy takes on the role of J. Robert Oppenheimer, the father of the atomic bomb, in Christopher Nolan‘s surprise smash hit biopic. Some of “Oppenheimer’s” box office success is thanks to the fact that it opened alongside “Barbie” this summer, with many theater-goers opting for a “Barbenheimer” experience where they watched both movies on the big screen in the same day. Murphy has yet to receive an Oscar nomination in his career, but he’s a shoo-in this year, per Gold Derby odds.

Halle Bailey (“The Color Purple”) — Best Supporting Actress Oscar contender
After gaining worldwide notoriety for taking on the role of Ariel in this year’s live-action remake of “The Little Mermaid,” Bailey will next be seen in the musical film version of “The Color Purple” as Nettie. While the movie still has not yet been screened for critics, there’s no doubt Bailey’s star continues to rise, and a host appearance on “Saturday Night Live” by the 23-year-old actress and singer would bring even more young eyeballs to the aging franchise.

Leonardo DiCaprio (“Killers of the Flower Moon”) — Best Actor Oscar contender
It’s wild to think that DiCaprio, one of this generation’s biggest A-list movie stars, has never hosted “SNL.” To date, the only time he has stepped foot on Studio 8H was in a cameo capacity during a 2014 episode hosted by his “The Wolf of Wall Street” co-star Jonah Hill. Now that’s he’s receiving Oscar buzz for playing real-life criminal Ernest Burkhart in “Killers of the Flower Moon,” might DiCaprio find time in his busy awards campaign to serve as a “Saturday Night Live” emcee?

Greta Lee (“Past Lives”) — Best Actress Oscar contender
Lee is everywhere in 2023 with her starring role as Nora in Celine Song‘s directorial debut “Past Lives,” plus appearances in “Problemista,” “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse,” “HouseBroken,” “Strays” and “The Morning Show.” Note that she would be only the third Asian woman in “Saturday Night Live’s” 49-year history to host after Lucy Liu in 2000 and Awakwafina in 2018.

Colman Domingo (“Rustin”) — Best Actor Oscar contender
Domingo won last year’s Emmy Award for Best Drama Guest Actor for playing Ali on “Euphoria,” and he’s also been fighting zombies (and fellow humans) as Victor Strand on “Fear the Walking Dead” since 2015. But he hasn’t yet showed up on “SNL” in any capacity. Will his critically acclaimed role in “Rustin” as civil rights activist Bayard Rustin bag him both an Oscar nomination and an NBC host gig?

Fantasia Barrino (“The Color Purple”) — Best Actress Oscar contender
The jury is still out on how “The Color Purple” will play for critics and audiences, but Barrino first started portraying Celie in the Broadway version in 2007, so she knows this character inside and out. Fun fact: if Barrino ends up winning the Oscar for her film debut, she’d be the second “American Idol” Season 3 alum to do so after Jennifer Hudson in “Dreamgirls” (2006). If that doesn’t warrant an “SNL” spot, we don’t know what does!

Barry Keoghan (“Saltburn”) — Best Actor Oscar contender
Keoghan, last year’s Oscar nominee (and BAFTA winner) for “The Banshees of Inisherin,” is back again in the awards spotlight. This time around the 31-year-old actor plays the mysterious Oliver Quick in Emerald Fennell‘s sexy thriller “Saltburn.” We can already envisage his “Saturday Night Live” monologue in which Keoghan brings out co-star Jacob Elordi to rapturous applause from the studio audience, then tosses him aside for stealing his thunder.

America Ferrera (“Barbie”) — Best Supporting Actress Oscar contender
Ferrera gives the speech to end all speeches in “Barbie” as she takes on the role of Gloria in the worldwide blockbuster. She’s on the bubble for an Oscar bid, with nine of our Expert journalists thinking she’ll make the cut. Amazingly, Ferrera has never been on “Saturday Night Live” before — not even back in her Emmy-winning “Ugly Betty” days or or when she was serving laughs every week on “Superstore.”

Mark Ruffalo (“Poor Things”) — Best Supporting Actor Oscar contender
Shockingly, Ruffalo is one of the last main “Avengers” to never host “SNL.” He’s had to watch from the sidelines as Robert Downey, Jr., Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner and multiple Chrises all took the stage, hoping someday his time would come. Well, buoyed by career-best reviews for playing Duncan Wedderburn on “Poor Things,” he’s likely closer than ever to checking the sketch show off of his bucket list.

Lily Gladstone (“Killers of the Flower Moon”) — Best Actress Oscar contender
It’s not every day that “Saturday Night Live” enlists a relatively unknown actress for their weekly hosting gig, but Gladstone could be just that person. She’s undoubtably going to take awards season by storm (Oscars, Globes, Critics Choice, SAG, BAFTA, etc.) for playing Mollie Burkhart of the Osage Nation on “Killers of the Flower Moon,” and Lorne Michaels could help boost Gladstone into the stratosphere with some viral moments.

Jeffrey Wright (“American Fiction”) — Best Actor Oscar contender
Wright is inching closer and closer to his first career Oscar nomination after earning multiple Emmy bids for “Angels in America,” “Westworld” and “What If…?” In the satirical dramedy “American Fiction,” which is taking the film festival circuit by storm, Wright has the support of many of our Expert pundits for his role as Thelonious “Monk” Ellison. His film co-star Issa Rae hosted “SNL” in 2020, so perhaps she still has some clout to get Wright on the show?

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