Inde Navarrette’s year somehow keeps getting bigger. Obsession turned her into one of 2026’s breakout stars, here character is even headed to Halloween Horror Nights, Marvel came calling for its upcoming X-Men movie, and now she is heading to Studio 8H for her first crack at hosting Saturday Night Live, ahead of its 2026 TV Schedule premiere of its 52nd season. That would be intimidating enough before you remember she landed the Halloween episode. But the young star is taking notes from past host Taylor Swift.
Navarrette is already doing some homework. While answering questions on the red carpet, the 25-year-old actress told Entertainment Tonight in a clip shared on its official TikTok that she has been jotting down sketch ideas and looking to Taylor Swift's 2009 hosting job. In the clip below, Navarrette said she grew up watching SNL and wants to arrive with her own material, much like the Pop Star allegedly did.
That makes me even more curious about what she brings to the episode. Plenty of hosts arrive at SNL and wisely put themselves in the hands of people who write live sketch comedy every week. Navarrette sounds ready to show up with a notebook, and she has a pretty good model in mind.
The Superman & Lois alum said she heard Swift wrote her own opening when she hosted in 2009, which encouraged her to take a similarly hands-on approach. She explained:
I heard that Taylor Swift... wrote her own monologue, so I really, really, really want to come in with myself and my own ideas.
Swift set one heck of a high bar. At 19, she hosted and served as a musical guest, then opened the show with “Monologue Song (La La La),” an original song poking fun at her own tabloid life. Seth Meyers later remembered Swift essentially arriving with the whole thing ready to go, calling it a “perfect SNL monologue.”
No pressure, Inde.
Navarrette will host the Oct. 31 episode with Gracie Abrams as musical guest, which feels almost suspiciously well timed for the star of one of this year’s biggest horror movies. NBC confirmed the Halloween booking as part of SNL’s first batch of Season 52 hosts. The writers have plenty to work with before Navarrette even opens that notebook.
Obsession gave the internet a new horror movie favorite and put its lead in a much bigger spotlight. Now she also has an upcoming Marvel movie role hanging over the episode, which means MCU jokes are practically inevitable. Throw in Halloween, and I would be shocked if she makes it through the night without fake blood or super suits being used somewhere.
Still, I like that she wants to bring ideas rather than simply waiting to see what gets handed to her Monday morning.
Swift’s 2009 episode worked because the monologue sounded unmistakably like her. She joked about Joe Jonas, Taylor Lautner and the Kanye West VMA disaster using the thing she already knew how to do better than almost anyone: write a song.
Navarrette does not need to recreate that trick. Taking the same ownership over the opportunity, though, seems like a pretty solid lesson to steal.
But ultimately, whatever she decides to do, we will have to wait and find out what made it into her memo pad when Navarrette makes her SNL hosting debut Oct. 31 on NBC, then streams for everyone with a Peacock subscription.
