Acclaimed actor Benedict Cumberbatch is set to make his return to Saturday Night Live next month. On Saturday night's new episode of the sketch comedy series, which featured Lizzo pulling double duty as the host and musical guest, it was announced that Cumberbatch would host the program for the second time on May 7. He will be joined by the musical guest Arcade Fire.
This follows Cumberbatch previously hosting an episode of SNL in 2016. Now, he comes onto the show in part to promote the new film Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, not that it needs much marketing. The highly-anticipated film will drop on May 6, just one day before Cumberbatch hosts SNL. It seems more likely than not that the Marvel multiverse will be spoofed if Cumberbatch is coming onto SNL while the new movie is playing in theaters.
Cumberbatch also joins SNL during a season that's brought in many other big names from the superhero world. Owen Wilson, who had a memorable role in the Disney+ series Loki, kicked off the season back in October. His co-star Jonathan Majors, who also stars in the upcoming sequel Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, hosted in November. He was immediately followed by Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings star Simu Liu. Willem Dafoe (Spider-Man: No Way Home), Oscar Isaac (Moon Knight), and Zoe Kravitz (The Batman) have all hosted this season as well.
Benedict Cumberbatch Also Returns to the Big Screen in May
Benedict Cumberbatch was up for Best Actor at the Academy Awards for his acclaimed role in The Power of the Dog, but his most popular role seems to be Doctor Strange. The actor's second solo movie as the character is directed by Sam Raimi and is written by Michael Waldron. The film follows the events of Spider-Man: No Way Home with Dr. Stephen Strange traveling into the multiverse to face a new foe with the help of old and new allies from different dimensions.
Along with Cumberbatch, the film stars Elizabeth Olsen as Wanda Maximoff, Chiwetel Ejiofor as Karl Mordo, Benedict Wong as Wong, Xochitl Gomez as America Chavez, and Rachel McAdams as Christine Palmer. Patrick Stewart will reprise his X-Men role as Professor X among many other surprises. As No Way Home did not officially confirm that Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield were appearing in the film until its release in theaters, it seems likely that there will be some huge surprises in store for the new Doctor Strange as well. Marvel Studios has decided not to hold any advance press screenings to further keep spoilers contained.
In any case, it is certainly a big year for Cumberbatch. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness will be released in movie theaters on May 6. Cumberbatch can then be seen hosting Saturday Night Live on May 7 on NBC with new episodes found streaming on the streaming service Peacock after originally airing on television.