When Joe Biden ended his re-election campaign and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris to carry the Democratic Party standard, certain corners of social media almost immediately lit up with posts to the effect of, “That means Maya Rudolph will be back on SNL this fall, right?”
As it happens, Rudolph is indeed set to play Harris again on Saturday Night Live in the run-up to the presidential election. Production on her Apple TV+ series Loot, which was scheduled to start work on season three in late August, has been delayed for scheduling reasons, which will help free Rudolph’s time to work on SNL. (Loot and SNL are both produced by Universal Television and Lorne Michaels’ Broadway Video.)
Reps for NBC haven’t replied to a request for comment.
Rudolph played Harris several times in the lead-up to the 2020 election, first as a candidate for president and then as Biden’s VP pick. She most recently did so in a March 2021 episode she hosted (watch the sketch, which also features Martin Short as Harris’ husband, Doug Emhoff, below).
SNL has brought in former castmembers and A-listers to play political figures a number of times over the years. Tina Fey played Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin several times in 2008, and frequent host Alec Baldwin did a Donald Trump impression on a host of episodes during the former president’s term (castmember James Austin Johnson now handles the Trump role). A Biden impression has passed from Jason Sudeikis during the Obama years to Jim Carrey before the 2020 election, and then to regulars Alex Moffat and Johnson.
SNL is set to begin its milestone 50th season on Sept. 28.
Deadline first reported the news of Rudolph’s return to the show.
